XX..What was his vision and what evidence is there to support this claim?

Somali woman shines in military training program, giving hope to European trainers Tuesday, March 13, 2012 IBANDA, Uganda (AP) — A military instructor clad in fatigues and boots who barks out orders to men half her age has become the unlikely star of a European Union program to train thousands of Somali troops. Nearly 98 percent of the trainees in the six-month class being held in a remote Ugandan village are men, but it is 40-year-old Fatuma Hassan Noor, who returned for advanced training, who often gets mentioned in discussions of what the program can be proud of after its mandate expires in December. Western governments are injecting millions of dollars into a program that they hope will contribute to the stabilization of Somalia, and officials stationed here hope dedicated students like Noor, when they finally return home, can prove that the money was not wasted. Col. Michael Beary, an Irish officer who is in charge of the training mission, said he is not sending soldiers back to Somalia to defeat the militant group al-Shabab. Beary said he is instead trying to create disciplined soldiers who will return home with “a different attitude.” The 608 Somali soldiers in the current class are being trained on good citizenship, women’s rights and how to stop gender-based violence, as well as weapons training, first aid, mine detection and communication during battle. The 60 trainers in the village of Ibanda come from 12 European countries. The program has already trained 1,800 Somalis since 2010. The trainers say the mission is a small but vital contribution toward the creation of a professional army. “This mission is very successful,” Beary said. “It is having a real effect on the ground.” Noor is well-regarded because she was a member of the inaugural 2010 class but returned last year to train as a noncommissioned officer, a forward step toward her goal of practicing as an army nurse. This time, she came with her daughter, Amal Ahmed, who now says she is no longer afraid of a loaded AK-47. “We don’t feel lonely when we are together,” Noor said last week. The girl glanced at her mother and said: “We comfort each other. ... Some say my mother brought me here, but I tell them that I am strong enough to correct my mother when she is wrong.” The mother and daughter presence on a camp dominated by men has infused some excitement into a program that is conditioned by fluid and often volatile events in Somalia, which has lacked a stable government since 1991. Al-Shabab is on the mind of everyone at the Bihanga camp where students train among structures built to resemble Mogadishu’s ruins. But the trainers say they cannot afford to focus on terrorists whose power is fading under pressure from foreign armies backing Somalia’s transitional government. The class hopes to create good citizens. This thinking, missing in earlier sessions, is being practiced partly through what is called “training of trainers,” courses in which a few fast-learning Somalis are taught skills they are expected to pass on. Noor is specializing in saving lives in combat, and these days she spends a lot of time training with rubber dummies. “She’s good, very good,” said Abdullahi Kula, a translator observing her teaching a class on CPR from a distance. Noor’s teachers say they like her enthusiasm. “I met her the first day she arrived,” said Portuguese Lt. Col. Mariano Alves, the camp’s training commander. “She was very active. Immediately she asked me how life was here, how I was doing. She is a nice person.” Noor is a private in the Somali army and the widowed mother of six children. She suspects she would be serving tea back home if she were not in the military. And she says she taught herself how to speak English, a skill that contributes to her popularity. “When I go back home the women will look at me and say, ‘Look at her, she’s 40 years old and we are 20,’” she said. “They will want to come here. But they can’t speak English like me.” Many of the Somalis here, who range in age from 18 to 40, are illiterate, and only 15 percent speak English. The trainers rely on a few translators to impart their lessons. Each of the trainees will get $100 for every month spent at the camp, but they can only receive the cash after completing the course. Trainers say the money does a lot to keep them motivated. “Like babies, they start by crawling, and then they start running,” said Sgt. Godfrey Onio, a Ugandan who has helped train the Somalis since the mission started. European and Ugandan officials say they cannot control what happens after the Somalis return home. There have been defections in the past, with some frustrated trainees joining al-Shabab for better pay. Roberto Ridolfi, the Italian head of the EU delegation in Uganda, said any renewal of the military program would be predicated on what happens after the mandate of Somalia’s transitional government expires in August. The diplomat recalled a recent trip to Bihanga, where he was introduced to trainees including Noor. He was impressed that the woman had returned for advanced training, and he thanked her. “It’s a beautiful example,” he said. “What the woman is doing is a good example of leadership.” Source: AP

Xaaji Xunjuf;803313 wrote: The general was a visionary leader the problem was his cause was hijacked by power-hungry individuals. . He was mass murderer who inherited country and washed down the drain. The likes of him and Yeey were simply power hungry and they had no vision beyond that.

Juxa;803378 wrote: ninyow anigu i am used to talking dadka afsomaligoodu yahay in sayid maxamed level ee i dhaaf Nagadaaye:D Waxaa leedahay Sayid afSoomaaligiisa dalac bilaash waaye.

Yanks make big fuss about this sort of thing but what's weird is society that bombards TV viewers with Cialis and Viagra ads would complain breast-feeding.

Laba ragco tukada and call it night folks.

Carafaat mingis Faroole la,yiraahdo ku dhacay.

^Or even qandho:D

Qandho isdajiba

N hadhwanaag is suppose to be one of the better ones?

Raamsade and his nemesis seem to have lot in common.

^You need break. This insane obsession with Faroole is driving nuts. Quran in lagu saaro waaye.

Nuune.....Soomaaliya religious majirey, what do they exactly want? If they are truly against women in Parliament, then screw them.They should be pointed as spoilers. Sahal...thanks

^It's not for him to remove Sharif Sakiin or take an initiative to mediate between Parliament. Any comprise need to come from the Somalis themselves. Whatever he does, the man can't win. He gets involved and mediates between these so called MPs, he will be accused of 'running' Somalia by all parties or if he stays above the fray, he will be accused of not doing his job. We can't continue abdicating our responsibility and accusing others.

LOL-the land with million presidents

nuune;802182 wrote: I had this believe that Solers don't die and it is only internet, I was wrong! Che, I think the women folk will be included in the cabinet, not 30, but 5-10, the rest will be MPs and envoys. I mean this group he's talking about, are they part of the current or previous cabinets. Women are the majority of the country's population. Any !diot opposed to their participation should be silenced. Duufaan.....We can't continue scraping every plan because someone is not happy. The problem with the Somalis is that if someone doesn't like what they see, they want to undo the whole process.

Maybe LSK knows him?

^Do they include members of cabinet? I am surprised Mahiga knows about SOL and I wonder what's name of Soler?

Who are the members of Al-Sheikh group?

As-Salaamu Alaikum. It has been nearly six weeks since I last wrote, having newly relocated to Mogadishu. I have settled in the capital where being our close proximity to and daily engagement with our Somali interlocutors is helping us to “make up for lost time.” I continue to encourage other members of the international community to join us here without delay to show their continued engagement with Somalia and to be on the ground to help advance the peace process. The past few weeks have been full of dramatic events. The country is still embroiled in a parliamentary crisis which has frozen even the most basic activities of the lawmakers. Parliament cannot pass legislation or carry out routine tasks. Somalia simply cannot afford to be in this impasse at this key point in its history. Not only does the ongoing power struggle risk derailing the substantial gains that Somali stakeholders and their partners have so painstakingly made, it is holding key processes hostage, such as the approval of the National Security and Stabilization Plan. I am concentrating my efforts on engaging the parties to find a way out of this crisis and to ensure that they get back to work for the benefit of Somalia. CLICK

Waste of time and resources

UNMUTED:YOU DONT HAVE MY VOTE You must have heard of the viral video created by Invisible Children (IC), a U.S. organization that has launched a one-year campaign (expires December 31, 2012) to eliminate Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group in Northern Uganda that has been embroiled in civil conflict with the Ugandan government for 25+ years. The LRA has admittedly used atrocious tactics such as abductions to engage children in conflict, using boys as soldiers and girls as sex slaves. Needless to say, Kony and LRA must go. That’s where my agreement begins and ends with Invisible Children’s work. I appreciate the organization’s commitment to the issue and can see its good intent, but I strongly question the group’s approach, strategy, and work. Below are some of the reasons why. Lack of context and nuance: in the video, the founder of Invisible Children tells his young son that Kony is a bad guy and he must go. Daddy will work on making sure he is caught. He goes on to state later, “if we succeed, we change the course of human history.” Such a humble undertaking! Simply, a long socioeconomic and political conflict that has lasted 25+ years and engaged multiple states and actors has been reduced to a story of the good vs bad guy. And if a three-year-old can understand it, so can you. You don’t have to learn anything about the children, Uganda, or Africa. You just have to make calls, put up flyers, sings songs, and you will liberate a poor, forgotten, and invisible people. This approach obviously denies realities on the ground, inflates fantasies abroad, and strips Ugandans of their agency, dignity and humanity- the complexity of their story and history. The work, consequence, and impact are all focused on Uganda, but the agency, accountability, and resources lie among young American students. Clearly a dangerous imbalance of power and influence; one that can have adverse lasting effects on how and what people know of Uganda. It reduces the story of Northern Uganda, and perhaps even all of Uganda, into the dreaded single narrative of need and war, followed by western resolve and rescue. As we have seen from the past, without nuance and context, these stories stick in the collective memory of everyday people for years in their simplest forms: Uganda becomes wretched war. Whatever good IC may advance in raising more awareness on the issue or even contributing to the capture of Joseph Kony, it can never do enough to erase this unintended (I hope) impact. Invisible to whom: these children have been very visible to their communities for years. After all, they’re somebody’s child, brother, sister, friend, niece, nephew, or neighbor. They’ve been visible to the shopkeepers and vendors in town who protected them. They’ve been visible to the family members who lost them and the community that cared for them. It’s because they’re so visible that Concerned Parents Association opened its doors in the 1990’s, after LRA abducted about 200 girls from a secondary school dormitory, to advocate for and bring to international light their plight. It’s because they’re visible that young people, including returnees from abductions, started Concerned Children and Youth Association. They’re visible to the people that matter, but apparently not to IC. The language we use in social change often denotes the approach we take, even if subconsciously. Since the children appear to be invisible to IC, then perhaps it’s clear why they’re represented as voiceless, dependent, and dis-empowered. The dis-empowering and reductive narrative: the Invisible Children narrative on Uganda is one that paints the people as victims, lacking agency, voice, will, or power. It calls upon an external cadre of American students to liberate them by removing the bad guy who is causing their suffering. Well, this is a misrepresentation of the reality on the ground. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples of child and youth advocates who have been fighting to address the very issues at the heart of IC’s work. Want evidence? In addition to the organizations I list above, also look at Art for Children, Friends of Orphans, and Children Chance International. It doesn’t quiet match the victim narrative, does it? I understand that IC is a US-based organization working to change US policy. But, it doesn’t absolve it from the responsibility of telling a more complete story, one that shows the challenges and trials along side the strength, resilience, and transformational work of affected communities. Revival of the White savior: if you have watched the Invisible Children video and followed the organization’s work in the past, you will note a certain messianic/savior undertone to it all. “I will do anything I can to stop him,” declares the founder in the video. It’s quite individualistic and reeks of the dated colonial views of Africa and Africans as helpless beings who need to be saved and civilized. Where in that video do you see the agency of Ugandans? Where in that Video do you see Jacob open his eyes wide at the mere possibility of his own strength, as Jennifer Lentfer of How Matters describes here? Can we point out the problem with having one child speak on the desires, dreams, and hopes of a whole nation? I don’t even want to mention the paternalistic tone with which Jacob and Uganda (when did it become part of central Africa by the way?) are described, not excluding the condescending use of subtitles for someone who is clearly speaking English. How many times in history do we have to see this model to know that it doesn’t work? Even if IC succeeds in bringing about short-term change (i.e. increased awareness or even the killing of Kony) it won’t eliminate Northern Uganda’s problems overnight. It won’t heal and sustain communities. In this era of protest and the protester, we have seen that change is best achieved when it comes from within. Let Ugandans champion their own, IC! Privilege of giving: that was quite a 30-minute production? Where did they get the resources? How do they have that reach? Well, in the nonprofit world, the one thing that we have to learn, especially as Africans, is that privilege begets privilege. The IC video is another reminder of the ways in which privilege infiltrates the social justice world and determines the voices and organizations that are heard; simply those that can afford to be heard. There are several local organizations that could offer a nuanced and contextualized perspective on and solutions to the Northern Uganda conflict. They don’t have IC’s reach. They simple weren’t born into the world of financial, racial, social, and geopolitical privilege IC members are. Lack of Africans in leadership: Invisible Children’s US staff is comprised exclusively of Americans, as is the entire Board. How do you represent Uganda and not have Ugandans in leadership? Couldn’t the organization find a single Ugandan? An African? Did it even think about that? Does that matter to current staff and board members? I understand that IC’s main audience is American and its focus is on American action. However, when your work and consequence affect a different group of people than your target audience, you must make it a priority to engage the voices of the affected population in a real and meaningful way, in places and spaces where programs are designed, strategies dissected, and decisions made. Clearly, I think people should work across borders to address global issues. Obviously, there is a role for Americans in this issue. The problem here is the lack of balance on who speaks for Uganda (and Africa) and how. We need approaches that are strategic and respectful of the local reality, build on the action and desires of local activists and organizers, and act as partners and allies, not owners and drivers. When it comes to Africa, we have seen the IC approach play out time and time again, whether it was Ethiopia in the 1980s, Somalia in the early 2000s to date, Darfur in 2004, or now. History is on our side and it shows that these types of approaches often fail. At some point, we have to say enough is enough. Africans, raise your voice! Now and into the future. http://innovateafrica.tumblr.com/post/18897981642/you-dont-have-my-vote

Sunday, March 11, 2012 The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) aid organization is preparing to establish a foundation that aims to introduce and represent Turkish culture in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, under the auspices of the Turkish presidency. Humanitarian and development assistance from Turkey to famine and conflict-hit Somalia has been ongoing. Last week, President Abdullah Gül pledged to promote a Turkish foundation to be established in Somalia, in a meeting with Kızılay President Ahmet Lütfi Akar. Within the scope of the project, a mosque and a library will be built. On March 7, Akar told Gül about the plan to establish a Turkish foundation in Somalia and asked for his support for the project. Gül agreed, and the project will be established under the auspices of the Turkish presidency. Somali authorities have allocated five hectares of land to Kızılay for the foundation premises. A nursing and health vocational school will be established on the same piece of land as the foundation. Speaking to Today's Zaman on Saturday, Akar expressed his gratitude to Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for their support of Kızılay's aid initiatives in Somalia. “The Turkish presidency's support [for the foundation] reflects how much importance Turkey has put on Somalia,” Akar asserted. Kızılay is the initiator of many aid projects in the country. A Turkish tent city, which the organization launched in December 2011, provides shelter for almost 10,000 Somalis in Mogadishu. A mobile bakery set up at the tent city produces 16,000 loaves of bread a day, and the charity also cooks and distributes hot meals to 10,000 people every day. Source: Today's Zaman

^They will probably saying missing in action and presumed dead. Majority of the soldiers were 'disposable' Oromo anyway. No Tigray dies in these wars.