He is of course ..... the Canadian gov should have to consider about his issue.

Belo .......... waar xalay wacdaraa ka dhacay Maansoor. Was the funniest night for me. and girls were ,,, hmmmmmmmmmmm ,, I wish i could be young again ,,

^ ^ After all ,, it is A&T u know ,,,

Hadaa ma kismaayaan joogaa ,,,

U understood coz u wrote it ,,,,,

The armed militia are said to have fled into the bushes and the election ID cards were delivered with no incidents.

Troops from Somaliland and Ethiopia entered the border town of Buhodle on Saturday in a bid to beef up security in both nations as elections approach. According to the local paper, Waaheen, Somaliland Defense Minister, Mr. Suleyman Warsame Guled told local press that troops from both countries have been deployed in a number of border towns including the town of Buhodle. The minister said the two troops would work together to maintain security in the region. Ethiopia, who is also concern about the spread of al-Shabab and other radical groups in Somalia has since created a number of security cordons around the town. The troops are also inspecting trucks in and out of the town, while troops from Somaliland are escorting election team to the city. Buhodle is the main town of Somaliland’s Buhodle region but the city also has large population who are opposed to the presence of Somaliland election team. The region is part of a disputed territory between Somaliland, who maintain the region falls within the 1960 pre-union borders and Puntland, who claim the region because of the tribes that inhabit in the city who are part of Puntland’s ***** family. Somaliland troops have reportedly pushed deep into the Buhodle and Sool regions in search for an armed clan-militia who are said to be planning to disrupt the election in Sool. The troops have searched the villages of Widwid, Hidhid, Kala-baid, Dumay, Geed-dheer and Darkaynley. The armed militia are said to have fled into the bushes and the election ID cards were delivered with no incidents. The leader of the clan militia, Dr. Suleyman Ise [ Hagle tosiye], a Canadian citizen, is stranded in Buhodle town as Ethiopian troops patrol all the main roads. Ethiopians cast their vote on the election 23rd May 2010 while Somaliland goes to the polls on June 26th. Ethiopia said it stood ready to provide it’s troops for Somaliland if it’s stability came under threat as the two nations are linked and share a common border. Meanwhile heavily armed troops from Ethiopia have entered Elbarde in Somalia’s Bakol region to push al-Shabab fighters back into Mogadishu and southern Somalia. After gaining independence from Great Britain in 1960, Somailand entered unconditional union with the south (Italian Somaliland) to formed what was known as the Somali Republic. However, that union failed and Somaliland declared it’s break away from Mogadishu. It has since maintained its own peace and security while the south descended into chaos and has not had a functioning government since. Ethiopia maintains security, trade and education ties with Hargeisa but said it wished to further the existing relations in March when Somaliland Foreign Minister met with the Ethiopian President.

I was there last night ,,,,

"Daadyow daari wayee nabadaa diidey oo ninka doortey diinta waa idiinka dhiiley oo dal markii la dhiso waa idiinka duunshee oo daacad ninkii damcay waa idiinka dooxee"- K'naan What language is that ??

Somalia's Divided Islamists

Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) must engage dissidents among the country’s insurgent groups in order to strengthen its authority and combat al-Qaeda inspired extremists. Somalia’s Divided Islamists,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, reviews the religious, ideological and clan rifts that have developed between the country’s main Islamist factions since the election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as leader of the TFG. It concludes that the government must reach out to elements of Harakat Al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (the Mujahideen Youth Movement) that are disenchanted with the influence of foreign jihadis in the group and the al-Qaeda sympathies among its leadership. It also suggests that many in the Somali nationalist Hizb al-Islam (Islamic Party) could be more receptive to TFG overtures. “The mounting internal divisions within the insurgency have given the TFG, the UN and donors many opportunities to reach out to less hard-line elements”, says Crisis Group Horn of Africa Analyst Rashid Abdi. “The best opportunities may have already been wasted, but with the right approach and incentives, some might accept a peaceful settlement”. Somalis have historically accepted many interpretations of Islam, most of them moderate. But starting in the 1960s and fuelled by the country’s instability and poverty, as well as cash from Saudi Wahhabist groups, extremists began to gain ground. Islamist briefly seized power in 2006 but were defeated by invading Ethiopian troops. When the Ethiopians withdrew in early 2009, a moderate Islamist coalition took power and committed to implementing Sharia (Islamic law). The jihadis, caught off guard by the move, denounced the regime as a puppet of the West, but cracks have since formed in the Islamist insurgency. Al-Shabaab leadership’s disregard for Somali nationalism and clan loyalties have put it at odds with Hizb al-Islam’s commanders. Open hostilities have broken out between the two movements. To use this division to its advantage, Somalia’s government needs to both improve its military capabilities and win the hearts and minds of clan leaders and impressionable young Somalis. The UN and donor countries also must realise that the failure to reach out to dissident Islamists only empowers the hardliners to continue their recruitment and attacks on the feeble government. “If the foreign jihadis fend off their local challengers, Al-Shabaab’s rapid transformation into a wholly al-Qaeda franchise might become irreversible”, says Francois Grignon, Crisis Group’s Africa Project Director. “That could cause havoc even well beyond Somalia’s borders, and the TFG and the international community cannot choose to be bystanders”.

We can teach them both in case they want to remain in their current profession ...

Before becoming a writer I worked as an archaeologist, and one of the things that inspired me to choose that profession was the beautiful cave art of Europe--places like Lascaux, Altamira, Chauvet, and so many others. One of the things that inspired me to go to Somaliland was the recently discovered painted caves of Laas Geel. The paintings are being studied by Sada Mire, Somaliland's head archaeologist. She dates these paintings to the Neolithic period, when pastoral peoples tended their herds in a landscape that was greener than the dry, stony plain that makes up much of Somaliland nowadays. The art seems to have been made over time, with some figures painted over earlier ones. Dr. Mire estimates they could be anywhere from 5,000 to 11,000 years old. Dating rock art is extremely difficult, especially since so little has been studied in this region. Dr. Mire is the first ever Somali archaeologist, and one of the first to seriously study the Somali region. Laas Geel is a little more than an hour drive northeast of the Somaliland capital Hargeisa. Foreigners venturing outside the capital are asked to hire a soldier or policeman to protect them. While this is a mostly peaceful country, the government doesn't want any bad press, and a couple of foreigners have been killed in recent years. So one fine morning I head out with a hired car, our driver, a Kalashnikov-toting bodyguard, Swedish photojournalist Leo Stolpe, and Ali, Dr. Mire's assistant from the Department of Antiquities. A short drive along a well-paved road and we make our first stop to see some other relics of Somaliland's past. Right next to the road is a rusting old Soviet-made tank, destroyed during the war of independence. There used to be many more of them scattered around the country but most have been hauled away for scrap. This one remains and has become a local landmark. Ali is more interested in a rocky hill nearby. He leads us up the slope under a strong mid-morning sun and shows us two heaps of small stones. To the untrained eye they look like nothing, but I can see they aren't natural. "What are these? Cairns?" I ask. "Yes," Ali replies. "Graves from the pre-Islamic times." One of them is about ten feet in diameter and consists of thousands of fist-sized stones. I wonder who is buried here, and what they did to deserve such an expense of labor. Soon we're speeding along the highway again. It's not long before we turn off onto a dirt track. The Landcruiser jolts and crashes across deep pits and humps. Through the scrub we can see a herd of camels and the low dome of a nomad's hut. It's taken less than a minute to leave the twenty-first century behind. After a short ride we make it to a gate. Beyond is a small concrete building and behind that is a rocky hill. We're here. The Department of Antiquities doesn't have much money, so one of the most impressive rock art sites in the world has no grandiose museum, no visitor's center, not even a guy selling tickets. Well, we do have to pay to get enter, but we don't get a ticket. Considering the precarious situation this unrecognized nation is in and the long list of important projects it needs to fund, it's a small miracle there's a Department of Antiquities at all. The painted caves of Laas Geel are actually rock shelters. Nine of them dot the hill on all sides, and while their depth provides them with ample protection from the sun and the occasional rainfall, they offer sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. These aren't hidden, secret places like the painted caves of Paleolithic Europe. That makes them no less mysterious. Ali leads us up the hill while the guard and driver go off to enjoy a local swimming hole. As we enter the first of the rock shelters we're all stopped dead with wonder. Somaliland's past, which to me had only been some flint tools and half a dozen dry academic articles, suddenly explodes into full color. The entire interior of the shelter is covered with figures. There are hundreds of them, mostly cows of various sizes. Some are schematic outlines, others are drawn in elaborate detail. Humans stand in between with their arms upraised as if in worship. A few tiny hunters run amidst the herds. There are other animals too, antelope and dogs and a giraffe, but the cows predominate. This is the art of a pastoral people, as many Somalis still are. The nomads we passed just a mile back would probably draw the same images if they could pluck up the courage to enter the shelter. Somali folklore teaches that spirits hide within these shelters and possess whoever enter, although that wasn't enough to stop a group of fighters during the civil war from burying one of their comrades in a niche at one side of the cave. Ali leads us scrambling over the hillside to find more shelters. Each one is covered in artwork. Some of the stones have been painted completely red. The pigment is made from mineral sources and brewed into a paste that sticks to the rock better than plaster. This, and the dry climate, is the reason the paintings have lasted so long. But now that they've been discovered, armed guards have been posted to keep the art from being chipped off and sold on the international antiquities market. The animals are beautiful and seem to fall within three main types: simple red figures, small and cruder white figures, and more elaborate drawings of cows that show decoration on the neck that reminds me of the personal marks the dealers at a Somali camel market put on their animals. But the human figures attract me the most. Were these real people? Ancestors? Generalized drawings of the whole clan? It's hard to tell, but it's obvious they're worshiping the most important thing in their lives--their cattle. A German archaeologist I worked with who was fortunate enough to visit Lascaux caves in France once told me, "It's so different from Mayan art. With Mayan art you're not sure what's going on, but with Lascaux you look at the drawings and say 'they were like us'". Exactly. Although I can't understand the deeper meanings behind the paintings or truly know the world out of which they came, that was my reaction. The ancient Somalis were like us. Their lifestyle was totally different, of course, but they thought enough like us that they could communicate what they believed in a fashion that someone can appreciate and (kind of) understand thousands of years later. Dr. Mire and her team have already discovered several other rock art sites in Somaliland. Who knows what they'll find in the next few years? Even though Somaliland isn't on most political maps, the efforts of a few dedicated scholars are putting it on the archaeological map.

Sounds a good idea but there are always obstacles to that. I remember i attended a presentation on sex workers in Somaliland and it was really shocking. But educating the prostitutes themselves sound a very good idea to begin with ...

Did you say the majority ?? ..... waar nobody speaks on behalf of them ,,, See even the Garaads are refugees in Garowe ?? ,,

All the way to Dhahar ...........

Give him sometime and you will see him supporting the Christians soon ,,,,,,

Rumors say the PM will this time be from Bay & Bakool ,,, and the head of the parliament will be from Bugland ...... Now so sure though ............

Faysal is doing a great job here ,,,,,,

prominent ex-pirate Mr. Abshir Boyah

Greetings from Juje ,,,

Wax ka daran baanu aragnay ,,,

Someone talks about Dameeraha when we are discussing about riyaha ,,,

There you have it ..