Somalia: No Place for a Child WAJID, Somalia ( AP ) — Nov. 14 — Abukar Mursal stopped going outside to play after a bullet grazed his back during a soccer game in Mogadishu, the wretched seaside capital where he was born. Abukar, just 15 years old, simply added sports to his list of banned activities — no joining up with militiamen patrolling the streets. No guns. And finally, no soccer with his friends. "In Mogadishu, fighting is everywhere," Abukar told The Associated Press some three months after he fled the city in a car packed with his parents, three siblings and other relatives. "Every morning we heard bullets. I thank God we left that place." After more than a decade of chaos, some aid groups now are focusing on the psychological problems of Somalia's children of war. In this country of 7 million people, with its ferocious violence and debilitating poverty, a quarter of all children die before age 5. Bullets zoom through the streets every day. "The children from Mogadishu have seen dead people in the streets, wounded people in the streets," said Ibrahim Haji, a counselor for the aid group World Vision Somalia. Often, Haji can tell if children have just arrived from Mogadishu by the way they act. "They can be very unfriendly," he said. "They just go and sit somewhere and think. That's all." World Vision recently opened a "child-friendly space" in Wajid, a U.N. aid base in southern Somalia, where counselors help children affected by the conflict, some of whom have suffered rape, brutality and other traumas. The aid base offers a place to relax — there are soccer balls, Frisbees and small classrooms with mats where children can take naps. Abukar, who said he associates mostly with kids from Mogadishu who have been through similar experiences, now lives in a camp with relatives and comes to the World Vision center to play soccer and to rest. Chris Smoot, program director for World Vision Somalia, acknowledges that basketball and soccer might seem like luxuries in a country where the average life expectancy is just 46 and where malnutrition is common. "But this is just another need — a place where kids can go and play and not feel scared," he said. "This is an opportunity for them to be kids. They're the future leaders of Somalia and we are helping them to learn and grow." World Vision's facility, with its fresh white paint, basketball court and cool concrete floors, is an anomaly in a nation that has not had an effective central government since 1991. In many parts of Somalia, government buildings and other structures were dismantled long ago and looted. A radical group called the Council of Islamic Courts ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year, but it was driven into hiding during a lightning-quick war in December. The Islamists have vanished from the streets, but are fulfilling their promise to launch an Iraq-style insurgency, using land mines, roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Human Rights Watch has accused all sides in the conflict of war crimes, saying fighters target hospitals and other medical facilities. The battles have devastated the capital, already one of the most violent and gun-infested cities in the world. Over the summer, five children who apparently mistook a land mine for a toy were blown away when it detonated — a stunning reminder of the toll war takes on the young. Thousands of civilians have been killed since December, and a fifth of Mogadishu's 2 million residents have fled. Fighting that started late last month has driven about 36,000 people from their homes, according to the United Nations. Many have come to Wajid, about 175 miles northwest of Mogadishu, where there is relative peace. The town also has makeshift camps where entire families squat in huts made of tarps and thorny branches. In September, international humanitarian agencies agreed on new guidelines to address mental health, focusing on building social networks and other support groups. "Until now, many people involved in emergency response have viewed mental health and psychosocial well-being as the sole responsibility of psychiatrists and psychologists," UNICEF said, adding that long-term mental problems "threaten peace, human rights and development." Siad Abukar, a 13-year-old who came to Wajid two months ago from Mogadishu, said he tries not to think about his former home. "When I think of Mogadishu, I feel like fighting," Abukar said. "I won't go back, never." Safiya Aden, who also arrived two months ago, said she sleeps easier here than in Mogadishu, where she heard rumors that "ladies were being raped." "I came here with my parents," she said. "We heard there was peace."

Dad baa buufis buufis ku haaye, oo ciyaar ka dhigan jiray. Muqdisho, before this carnage and genocide, aan soo arkay and what I had seen in my own eyes, I think, a significant numbers mentally meel ka wada waalnaa, even those who thought they were fine as well. No person can stand a seventeen years of non-stop violence. The first who had gone inay isla hadlaan, ku dhuftaan and finally waalnimo were dadkii "reer magaalka" ahaa, the former injineers, dhaqaatiirtii and other professionals who couldn't tolerate the animal-like behaviours and merciless violence meesha socoto any longer. Isolate and inay isla hadlaan bilaabeen and that eventually leads to a full waalnimo. Eebboow u gargaar umaddeena, meel walba laga haayo, walaahi.

Baliis, hala isxishmeeyo. No warning will be given again.

Adigana shimee noqotay Reer "Buntilaan," whoever they are. Ani iyo adiga Suuqa Miijiska lee ninacbaraawe iyo caanobaraawe ku cuni jirnee. Mise suuqaas Miijiskana "Buntilaan" loo raray?

Is this my old friend Shaqsi? War manooleed igaarka? Maan, had it been years ago or was it only yesterday. Long time, indeed, duqa. Xaalkaaga iyo nafta aboosto ii dheh. Great. NB - The moderators do not have to worry about who changes their usual diracs or hoosgundis or not, since their original diracs and macaawiiso, including goorgorada iyo rajastiinooyinkooda and to those with hoosgundi with their califalaaxs -- all of it is stuck with them. It comes as a perk being a MOD.

Horta sugaba, aniga maadaama Ingiriiska i dhibo iyo waxyaabihiis laga soo deensaday, micnaha "Puntland" yaa ii micneyn karo oo meeshaan ku jiro? "Puntland" iyo "Puntlanders" intee ka biloowdaan, kuna dhamaadaan?

Waa laga bixi doonaa, Bilaal, walaaloow. Masiibo dad walba wey soo martay, tan waa teena naloo qoray. And aamiin to your duco, brother.

Aljasiira [the English version at least I see at home] did show and it was the only international news brand that routinely shows what happens in Soomaaliya. But lately their news headlines were consumed by Bakistaan and every pin drop about Musharaf and that parachuted lady called Buuto. Waxaaba labadoodaba kula yaabay when they do hold a press conference, they deliberately and completely hold the session in Ingiriis and not in Urdu. It tells you how less they value and hold contempt of their own fellow Bakistaani citizens than the international community; it also tells you both worry about international community [read Mareykanka and Midowga Yurub] than the fate and future of their own country.

Caasho Cabdoow taloow manooshahay? Minneapolis lagu sheegaaye the last time. Heesteeda qaayaha lahayd ee "iloow, iloow" ay la qaadeyso Kuluc aaba soo xasuustay.

Castro, Tim Hortons meel ka sareyso la isku arkay. Was it at Williams Coffee Pub, Kuusha?

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Most Merciful “If two parties among the believers fall into a quarrel, make ye peace between them: if one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight ye (all) against the one that transgresses, until it complies with the commands of Allah; but if it complies, make peace between them with justice, and be fair: for Allah loves who are (fair and just).” The Qur’an, Alhujurat, (49:9) Magaca Eebbe iyo aayadiis Quraanka Kariimka uu kusoo dajiye faraha haka qaado, kan qoraalkaas qoray asagoo u adeegaayo Xabashi gaalmadoow ah. Nin Xabashi gaalmadoow kaare wato soo koray, oo dadweynaha Soomaaliyeed aan waxba galabsan lagu leeynaayo, lagu xasuuqaayo, lagu gumaadaayo, haddana aayad Quraan iyo magaca Eebba so wataba. Since when are "if two parties among the believers" fighting? Ma Xabashka gaalka madoow ah ayaa "believer" noqday haddana? War dadkaan ma xishoodaan miyaa, haddeeba dadka kale ka xishoon, iyaga shaqsi ahaantood iskuma xishoodaan miyaa?

PS...Care to elaborate waxaad ogtahay?lol Shaneemadda ma isku shidnaa hadda, kumanaan indho arkaayo hadda. Wixii aan ogahay, oo adiga ogeyd, oo aan isla ogeyn aan ogahay. Yac!

Hadaabo taas heated u ma leysid, ilaahay ima kaa tuso anoo heated ah...Diirkaaba kaa qaadmaayo aan u maleynaa... Wixii aan ogaa oo aan arkay oo aad heated ku ahayd [and not in this thread] ka daran maa arkaa? Sheekeeba ii keentay.

Haye, waa yahay adiga ayaan kaa dhigeynaa. Soo dhiibo your credentials. And about in this thread, a heated exchanges by two members, that is all; I don't see anything to be edited about. Ani kalitalis ma'ihi, mana ku amartaagleeye moderatorship. Dadka ha isku sii dirin, ee kala qabooji, if you can't do that, shib iska dheh then.

Xayaad, adiga inoo fur 'thread' saas camal ah. Waa kugu raacsanahay, aaba loo baahanyahay mid saas camal ah.

Nafiis, adiga u wacdi nooh kuwaan, abaayadiis. Sug kutub aan kuu doonaa, miiskana waa kuu diyaarinaa, biyana waa kusoo agdhigaa. "Amaa bacda..." ku biloow.

War jiro uma eko.

Aamiin to your ducooyin. The old man had apparently changed his mind. Wuu diiday in uu ka baxo. We thought he accepted, but apparently firmly not. Xabashi and their moooryaan militia stooges are stationed literally in front ganjeel [gate] of our house. Wax walba biyo la'aanta ugu daran, by shutting down the water. Biyo will soon run out, so will their cell phones' batteries. ----------------- As an individual who has no family living in Mogadishu(not since last year) this news cuts deep and there are many like me; ex. my grandfather who burried his wife(My grandmother,natural death) months ago in Galkacyo,Somalia is not allowed to watch Al Jazeera or Univ-TV because the news literally makes him sick and he starts to shake in anger which is bad for his health I am sorry about geerida ayeeydaa. And your awoowe is not alone about completely avoiding the news. Most elders do that. It depresses them more than we, because they have experienced and lived in the best generation Soomaalis had ever seen -- in 1960s. My father as well used to listen BBC Soomaali service and the Carabi service. But he had stopped some six years ago and really, really does not like to discuss Soomaali current events any more with anyone.

Economic Left/Right: -7.25 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 0.77 ------------ Some questions were ambiguous, such as the one suggesting charity organizations doing better than state-supported social welfare of the state. Why not both.

Yea, this one is Xabashi baasaboor. "E" kulahaa. Masaakiintii xajka aadi lahaa intee laba boqol oo doolar [uS, slightly less Canadian ] ka qaateen ayee xataa mid fake ah u diideen. What a scam. Dadkaan damiir malaha miyaa. Waxaan ayaa Soomaali kuula sheeganaayo. Shuud.

Me, brother, for the dignity and respect of the murdered, innocent Soomaali brothers and sisters la xasuuqay, for that this site does not allow showing the corpses of dead bodies. However, each murdered masaakiin image is strong and conveys more information than mere words, for that, I linked the innocent people la xasuuqay. It is too depressing to look at such gruesome images, kaaga sii daran, adding salt to our collective conscience and hurted feelings' wound, xasuuqa is done [and still doing] by our arch-enemy Xabashi, doing this to our Soomaali brothers and sisters, be them duqooshin, dumar, ilmo, waxba aan loo naxariisan. Eebba janadiisa fardowso haka waraabiyo masaakiinta walaalaheen la xasuuqay -- aamiin, Eebboow, aamiin.

He's even using Somalia's clan-based rivalries, which have been at the root of the nation's turmoil. Wasuge sometimes collects clan-based enrollment figures to create competition, warning one clan that a rival is doing a better job at educating its youths. "If it will get kids back into school," Wasuge said, "we'll try whatever we can." C/qaadir Waasuge, rageedi. Eebba hakuu garabgalo, aamiin.

I don't know whether he needs to be put into a straight jacket, a court room or a cemetary. I personally prefer the last suggestion. Odeygaan gaboobay iyo qashinka lamid ah, such as Max'ed Dheere, damiir Islaanimo iyo Soomaalinimo waa hore ka tagtay, tii bini'aadenimana ma u maleeye inay ku hartay. They all deserve, and soon should, hopefully, to be placed six [or make it thousand] feet under.

Aamiin, abaayo.

Well put, Buuxo. Garaadsiyo. I don't know why it bothers some the mutual, political correct name which all Soomaalis should favour: Soomaali Galbeed. It is the interest of Soomaali unity. I will sign the petition, though I think it is the same one I did sign a few months ago.