Originally posted by Farxan: "Indian soldiers deployed there as UN peacekeepers." i would say it just an incompetent reporter, I Concur

Cargo ship sinks off India From correspondents in Ahmedabad August 29, 2004 TWENTY sailors were missing today after a cargo ship sank off India's west coast, coastguard officials said. A search was called off at nightfall after the Indian ship, carrying rice for Somalia, went down 20km off the western Indian port town of Jakhau. "We sent out a helicopter, five boats and one of our ships to rescue the crew members, but the sailors could not be traced by dusk," coastguard spokesman S B Venketesway said, adding that a fresh search would be launched tomorrow. It was not immediately known whether the rice was meant for the civilian population of drought-hit Somalia or Indian soldiers deployed there as UN peacekeepers. Can someone explaine this?

:confused:

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Nice pictures Suldaanka!

Giant French movie production shot in Djibouti afrol News, 13 August - An upcoming film event from the French film industry is being shot in Djibouti during the rest of the year. The action and spy production, "Les Chevaliers du Ciel" (Knights of the Sky), is centred upon the French airforce, which is heavily present in the small Horn desert state. The French military hails the initiative. In the ongoing "War against Terrorism" small and stable Djibouti has become an important player. Here, large US, French and NATO troops are strategically stationed, mostly engaged in intelligence work. The small desert state thus has become increasingly visible in international media. Djibouti's visibility as an important military base is only set to increase by the ongoing shooting of a new and costly French film production. "Les Chevaliers du Ciel", which already has been called a French quality version of the Hollywood financial success "Top Gun", focuses its shooting on locations in France - including the Champs Elysées military parade - Britain and Djibouti. Shooting of the film were noted by the heavy presence of film cameras during the traditional military parade and airshow along Paris most famous boulevard on the French national day, 14 July. The camera and actors' teams are moving to Djibouti and the Farnborough airshow in Britain before shooting is expected to end during December this year. According to the producers, the filming is strongly supported by the French airforce and Ministry of Defence, which has gone out of its way to assure the best possible conditions for the crew, including opening up its military bases in Djibouti. As the movie will mirror a hero action like image of the French airforce, authorities count on a propaganda effect and on increased recruitment for its armed forces. The giant production is set to become the most expensive in the French cinema's history so far, with a budget of euro 20 million. Actors Benoît Magimel, Clovis Cornillac and Alice Taglioni feature on the star list. Prestigious film director Gérard Pirès - known from "Taxi", "Riders" and "Double Zéro" - heads the production, which he calls "the most ambitious aviation film ever made in France." Originally, the story is based on a comic created for the journal 'Pilote' in 1959 by the authors Jean-Michel Charlier y Albert Uderzo - the latter also being the text writer of the famous Asterix series. The well-told story in the late 1960s became a popular TV series, which again was reproduced in a new version twenty years later. This year, the version of text writer Gilles Malençon of the adventures of Tanguy and Laverdure for the first time are going to the cinema in a production that is expected to be shown world-wide. Tanguy and Laverdure, two French military pilots this time stationed in Djibouti, are to save the world from terrorism in a production that is said to imitate the action genre as produced by the Hollywood industry. According to information released by Unifrance, the international promotion agency of French cinema productions, one expects that the new prestigious movie will be released on France's national day next year, 14 July 2005 - at least for the French cinema audience. By staff writers © afrol News

Even though I have seen it before, it still shocked me.

That's just wrong man!

After Death. I was laying down underground. There was no voice of any sound. I go up and looked around me. There I saw nothing but my deeds. I saw myself entering the world. I saw my self exiting the world. What is this a game or what? Finally I had it all figured out. I figured out that life isn't my destiny. I figured out that hereafter is where I am going to last in. so why are we sent to the world? I figured out that we're sent to worship and obey. Allah La ellah ela hoowa. I figured out that we're sent to make up what we're going to pay

Either all countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons or none ought to have it. Man Of Freedom: You have unquestionably picked the wrong forum for your BS propaganda.

Well this didn’t come as a jolt to me, but I somehow knew some factions was going to get screwed over this. It’s just regretful that the women’s faction hade be those amongst to be cheated, since they were the only legitimate group there.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

HAHAHAHA He really got them!

Fyr-kanten, who was talking to you???? Mr. Dude, if this an undisclosed discussion please use the “PRIVATE MESSAGE FUNCTIONâ€

Originally posted by Snow the informer: quote:Originally posted by somealien: america helped saddam into power and did the same for many other dictators and generally ONLY have their own interersts in mind and... damn i dont know what to say other than practice some critical thinking when watching the news and read up on 'some 'history ...also CONGO is suffering a genocidal war right now, you think theyre gonna "rescue" the people like they did the iraqis(funny how all their history disapeared) or you think theyll stand back like they did the rawandanese? why should the US of A or the World at all clean up Africas mess? Even the mentally ill no better then genocide and turning ppl against their own is nothing new butu all took it to another level. when it reaches this level your own your own. Believe it or not, the west fashioned more or less all of African conflicts. (- The Congo: How and why the West organised Lumumba's assassination -) http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jan2001/lum-j10_prn.shtml

HOW TO SKIN DJIBOUTI. An English saying states, “There are many ways to skin a cat.†Likewise, there are many ways to skin Djibouti, if it does not desist from its alliance and the political, financial, and moral support or backing it provides to the avowed enemies of Somaliland particularly to the war criminal “Beast-Man†War Lords of Somalia. Although the people of Somaliland and Djibouti are brotherly and neighbourly, the government of Djibouti had always been hostile to us and worked against our interests and causes for no fault of our making. Ever since Djibouti achieved its independence from France, which we played a great role or helped bring about; the government of Djibouti began to distance itself from its immediate brotherly people, and in a subservient manner began to collaborate with and serve the fascist regime of Siyaad Bare, schemed against the SNM and its supporters during our long and bitter struggle for freedom, and deported our refugees by the droves to Somalia, only to be slaughtered by enemy at Lowya Ado border town and elsewhere! Moreover, after we fought back, destroyed the tyrannical Somalia’s army, expelled dictator Siyaad Bare from our land, and liberated our people and nation; Djibouti continued to align itself, this time, with the remnants of the toppled regime, many of whom are the notorious war criminals who robbed and nationalized our properties; and indiscriminately arrested, arbitrarily detained, tortured, raped, summarily executed by way of firing squads, massacred, ethnically cleansed our people so as to resettle in our lands ******* and Oromo ethnic groups from Ethiopia, bombarded our cities to rubble with anti aircraft missiles and war planes that were piloted by the racist Boer mercenaries of South Africa, and attempted the genocide of our people! The many mass graves that litter our country are evidence of the fascism, tyrannical rule, and barbarism of this regime and their cohorts. It is believed that more than 100,000 Somalilanders perished at the hands of these “Beast-Man†War Lords, many of whom were the military commanders of this evil regime. And since the restoration of our independence on 18 May 1991 to the present, nearly 7,000 Somalilanders have been killed, more than 10,000 others were maimed, and unknown number of livestock and property have been destroyed by the hidden land mines these evil savages planted in our land. However, regardless of these incomprehensible war crimes against our people and nation, our brotherly and neighbourly Djibouti still doesn’t get it as it continues to this day to perpetuate the same injustices and horrendous crimes with impunity by supporting the very war criminals and the “Beast-Man†War Lords of Somalia who were responsible for the crimes against humanity against people of Somaliland. There is no doubt that Djibouti is our number one enemy as it openly champions to constitute the crumbled central government of Somalia and puts much effort to revive the long dead dream of Greater Somalia or Somaliweyn in order to damage our freedom, peace and security, aspirations, cause, political stability, political determination, and the existence of Somaliland. Worse still, this tiny and poor country has gone a step further by, this time, requesting the Arab League member countries particularly Saudi Arabia not to lift the illegal livestock ban on Somaliland, has set its own livestock trading company, and is working tirelessly to siphon the entire livestock trade of Somaliland and the region through its port in a bid to further destabilize the Berbera port. Can you believe that this poor and mediocre county wants to take over the entire livestock trade of Somaliland, the backbone of our economy? Now, let’s take a pause for a moment and ask ourselves these questions: What have we done to them to deserve this treatment and injustices? Why the enmity? Why is Djibouti committing crime and scheming against our people and nation? Why do we tolerate them? How can we get back to them and put an end to their crimes? The answerer to the above stated questions combined is: We have done nothing to them to deserve the treatment and injustices Djibouti is committing against our people and nation, and that the enmity is caused by their sheer envy, greed, and the reason for their crimes is based on the perception that the Berbera port is a threat to the Djibouti port; their only source of economy, and we tolerate them partly because of our sheer perseverance, ineptitude, and lack of understanding of our interests; and we can get back to them and put an end to their crimes by beginning to skin them in various painful ways without firing a single bullet or causing war! Although this poor, tiny, and cancerous country has committed great injustice and crimes with impunity against our people and nation, and thinks that it is unassailable because of habouring in its territory French and American troops; there are many ways to skin Djibouti in order to get even with it or to punish it severely. Some of these ways are as follows: 1. Forge a close and warm political, economic, and social relations with Ethiopia, the big brother in the region. 2. Enter Free Trade Agreements with Ethiopia. 3. Give Ethiopia the contract to manage the Berbera port in order to entice it to use our main port just like the way Djibouti has contracted out its port to an Abu Dhabi company or Arabs. Note: in the past Ethiopia somewhat managed the shipping and receiving of its goods at the Djibouti port. 4. Declare Berbera port as free port. 5. Give Ethiopia a corridor to access the sea through the dormant Zeila port in exchange of the return of the Reserve Area to Somaliland. Or contract out the use of Zeila port in exchange of free electric power from Ethiopia. 6. Enlarge Berbera port, and construct other ports at Zeila, Karin, Maydh, and Laas Qorey to diminish the status of Djibouti port in the region. 7. Lift restrictions on border trade at Lowya Ado and other border points so as to flood cheap Somaliland goods in Djibouti to the benefit of the oppressed people of this poor country. 8. Forge good relations with the oppressed Afar people and other opposition groups in Djibouti. Banish their businesses and key businessmen from illegally benefiting from Somaliland, etc. 9. Break political, economic, and social relations with the current Djibouti government, etc. Overall, failure to curb the arrogance, enmity, injustices, and crimes of Djibouti; and failure to stand firm and protect our national interests will cost us dearly. Therefore, it is time we fully recognize Djibouti as the number one enemy of our people and Somaliland, and to punish it sooner rather than later. So let us begin to skin Djibouti in the many ways I have stated on the above. Victory and Liberty to Somaliland, Farah Ali Jama, Ottawa, Canada.

http://www.hornafrik.com/Newspage/newsid2088.htm Interview with the Kenyan ambassador to Somalia, Mohamed Abdi Afey. HornAfrik: Many Somalis feel the absence of Somaliland, the break away regions in northern Somalia, from the peace talks so did you set this conference only for the people in southern Somalia? Afey: absolutely not, we believe the upcoming government would represent the entire country. I see a civil war on the scope when I hear these kinds of statements.

HornAfrique And finally, save face and give up. This "Somaliland" debate is overdone and frankly doesn't have the appeal it used to have. Now it's just, to use a correct word, just plain corny. It is a great pity to see you try so hard to keep up the hype, but to break it to you in the most gentle of ways; No One Cares. Sorry This certainly sounds appealing to me, doesn’t it Horn?

Iraqis in Somalia Threatened With Beheading Salad F. Duhul Arab News JEDDAH, 31 July 2004 — A candidate for the presidency in Somalia said yesterday he would encourage his supporters to kill Iraqis in Somalia if the Somali truck driver kidnapped in Iraq was beheaded by his captors. “If they (the Iraqis) behead our loved ones, we will behead their loved ones,†presidential hopeful Hussein Ali Elmi was quoted by news agencies as saying. Elmi dismissed as too soft the Kenyan government’s position of asking their citizens to leave Iraq after three Kenyans were abducted there last week. Elmi said there were a few hundred Iraqis in Somalia, mainly working as shopkeepers in the capital Mogadishu. Most of them fled Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Elmi said, however, that he himself would not behead anybody, but instead would ask his militias to do it. “There is no other way to defend our people,†he said. There are 56 presidential candidates for Somalia. A group of around 20 are considered the Young Turks. Elmi, himself a Young Turk, said that if one of them becomes president, they would want to immediately send Somali troops to assist the new Iraqi government. *** Amnesty International (AI) has said in a statement that Somalia’s planned new government must be committed to respecting human rights, ending abuses and bringing to book perpetrators of past crimes in a country wracked by factional warfare for more than a decade. The human rights watchdog’s appeal came as the Somali talks in Kenya drew close to creating a transitional federal government that is expected to end 13 years of anarchy and violence. The Somali delegates at the talks were expected to select Parliament members and president. “A new government will be under obligation to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international and regional human rights treaties and conventions, particularly those signed by previous governments of Somalia,†the AI statement said. “Somalia’s new government must be committed to human rights and make a clean break with the gross abuses of the past 30 years, even though some of the perpetrators are still dominating the power-sharing. New human rights abuses must not be tolerated and those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed in the past, must be held accountable. AI appealed to the international community to give “firm and generous support†for human rights and reconstruction in Somalia. It called for the appointment of a United Nations human rights adviser for the country. “A UN human rights adviser for Somalia is urgently needed. Measures should be taken to implement the frequently violated UN arms embargo and disband faction militias. Child soldiers should be disbanded and rehabilitated,†said the statement. It called for the creation of safe conditions in Somalia before the return of refugees who fled the insecurity that followed the collapse of the state. “Conditions for safe return and sustainable livelihood for refugees will require major improvements in security, safe humanitarian access and substantial post-conflict reconstruction,†it said. “There must now be a clear end to the arbitrary killings of civilians, kidnappings, rape and looting, which are still being carried out with total impunity by faction militias and gunmen. The resumption of statehood must guarantee human rights and personal security for all citizens, as they regain a recognized citizenship and return from isolation to the world community of nations,†it added. At the same time, Martin Hill, Horn of Africa researcher for AI, has told reporters that two Somali asylum seekers deported from the Netherlands and Denmark were killed shortly after arriving in Mogadishu in a case showing the flaws in those countries’ immigration policies. He said the two men were killed by thieves who saw them as strangers without clan ties and therefore easy prey.. *** Militiamen at the Sharia Islamic court in Mogadishu have beaten up two Hornafrik radio and TV journalists, who tried to enter the court’s offices in the southern part of the capital, media reports said. The Islamic court’s chairman, however, denied the beatings, saying the journalists were only prevented from entering the court. “We were attacked after we entered the compound, which was recently converted into Islamic court offices,†one of the journalists, Hassan Kafi Abdurahman was quoted as saying. He said that during the attack, the militia guards destroyed recording material and papers belonging to them. The other journalist, Zeynab Abukar Mohamed, said she was pushed hard until she fell down, but the guards did not assault her further. *** The former first lady of Somalia, Dalayad Haji Hashi Jama, has died in Columbus, USA, at the age of 72, press reports said. According to her relatives, she died in her apartment on Monday of complications from diabetes. Dalayad was married to former Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre for 45 years. After he died in exile in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1995, she joined eight of her children in Columbus, which has the second largest Somali population in the United States.

This definitely clarifies things that have been going on in Somaliland and Somalia, these past days.

At the Crossroads of Failure Addis Tribune (Addis Ababa) COLUMN July 23, 2004 Posted to the web July 23, 2004 Ali Ibrahim The protracted and often acrimonious proceedings of the 14th Somali peace and reconciliation conference at Embagathi, Kenya, is finally winding down to its eventual fait accompli. Twenty months into the making, the stark reality facing Walaweynian Somalis is another failed attempt at peace- making - not any different than the thirteen previous conferences. The international community and the regional governments provided both the moral and material support to bring back some semblance of human civility to the chaos of Walaweynian Somalia. Unfortunately, the parties to the conflict do not have the ethical and moral integrity and/or the credibility to engage themselves in a genuine and sincere dialogue to settle their dispute at the negotiating table. The failure of all these never-ending conferences are basically the culture of the society. It is a culture that rejects any sense of responsibility for its behaviour. The irony is this: The architects who engineered the demise of the old Somalia are negotiating to resurrect a new nation from the ashes of the old one! The Aftermath of Arta Fiasco The undeclared agenda of the Arta peace conference of 2000 was based on a rather erroneous political gamble based on the premise that if the H***** , according to Salad Qassim's contention, are granted the position of life-time presidency, the rest of the Somali clans will immediately fall in line and the Somali conflict will be over within months. Of course, that was a very naive and short-sighted miscalculation by the new elder statesman of the region. Four years later, Salad Qassim has proven himself to be a character of no credibility with his own H***** clan. The rest of Southern community withheld their support and collaboration with Mr. Qassim's made in Djibouti transitional national government. That is why Mr. Qassim's administration is confined to mere 1km by 1.235km area in north Mogadiscio. This boils down to the fact that the man lacks the basic credentials to run a modern nation state. The Prelude to the 15th Peace Convention To shore up the sagging fortunes of the Embagathi convention, Mr. Abdulrezak Haji Hussein and his sidekick offered the former of the Somali National Movement the presidency of upcoming Somali state. The objective was to create suspicion, uncertainty, and chaos in Somaliland.Once that attempt has backfired, the former Prime Minister has set his real intentions in motion. In a recent article, Mr. Abdulrezak wrote, " The D***** and the H***** clans should relinquish the position of the presidency and the office of the prime minister in favour of other clans." On the surface, it is a categorical admission that the root cause of the current quagmire in Southern Somalia, as well as the ultimate failure of the Somali state, has been mainly due to the irreconcilable and always antagonistic political ambitions of the said two communities. A coronation of sorts, shall we say, for some at the twilight of his political dreams and a point for political pundits and historians to ponder for years to come. However, the flipside of the ex-prime minister's statement is a carefully well-timed prelude to a much sinister and a farreaching hidden agenda. The corollary to Abdulrezak's article is this: Tthe rivalary between our two communities has failed to accomodate each other; let us entice the I*** group to act as bulwark between us; let us explore this option for the last time." This article has definitely refocused the disarrayed and hapless Somali pseudo-politicians. It surely has revitalised the moribund quasi-intellectual communities with an unprecedented sense of duty and responsibility to the suffering of the Somali people. This new-found dose of latent energy is reawakening the hypernating Greater Somalia dream. The hordes of people heading for Mogadiscio these days is a direct response to this bold new intitiative from the former prime minister. The message has really struck a raw nerve. To evade and avoid the suspicion and wrath of the regional neighpors, this new masquerade is camouflaged and billed as the beginning of a new construtive dialogue initially between Somaliland and Somalia. This process will be eventually expanded delegates from the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, the Eastern Hararghe region of Ethiopia, and the Republic of Djibouti. The Arab League ( via the Egyptian government) is the financial backer of this new radical initiative. This idea has been circulating around for a while. Now, it is gaining urgency as well as momentum simultaneously and it is intended to break the cycle of missed opportunities. The aim and the sole objective of this new dispensation is to short-circuit Somaliland's rendezvous with its manifest destiny: the destiny to chart our own course regardless of the wishfull dreams of our southern neighbours.Walaweynian Somalis will go to any extreme to blame their incompetence on the absence of Somaliland from the negotiating table. To our walaweynian neighbours to the south i shall say: the drumbeat of the sanctity of somali unity is resonating periodically across the landscape. for those of you who are still looking for the holy grail or king solomon's ring,the search is gradually winding down to empty handedness on both counts. this is what you have to reckon with: Why did the Somali state fail in the first place? Who is responsible for this failure? Siad Barre alone is not the culprit. Those who promoted him to become the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and later encouraged him to overthrow the civilian government, are equally responsible as well.

LOL, funny