My petty Somalis - Demography is Destiny - hadaad dalshishaeeye joogtaan, damiir la'aan

[OdaySomali]

Kenya: Security Forces Abusing Civilians Near Somalia Border

‘There Are No Human Rights Here,’ Military Officer States

 

 

12/01/2012

 

History repeating itself

 

The Kenyan security forces are beating and arbitrarily detaining citizens and Somali refugees in Kenya’s North Eastern province, which borders on Somalia, despite repeated pledges to stop such abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

 

On January 11, 2012, in the latest of a series of incidents documented by Human Rights Watch since October 2011, security forces rounded up and beat residents of Garissa, the provincial capital, in an open field within the enclosure of the local military camp. A Human Rights Watch researcher witnessed the incident.

 

“

When military officers can beat civilians in broad daylight without fearing repercussions, it’s clear that impunity has become the norm

,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Repeated promises by both the police and the military to stop these abuses and investigate have amounted to nothing.”

 

The Kenyan police and military have been responsible for a growing number of serious abuses against civilians since the Kenya Defence Forces entered southern Somalia in October, with the stated aim of eliminating al-Shabaab, an Islamist militia. The same month, suspected al-Shabaab sympathizers initiated a series of attacks against police, military, and civilian targets in Kenya.

 

In response, members of the security forces have been responsible for rape, beatings, looting, and arbitrary arrests of civilians. The crackdown has largely targeted Somali refugees and Kenyan ethnic Somalis, but residents of other ethnic backgrounds in North Eastern province have also been victimized.

 

The incident in Garissa on January 11 involved Kenyan citizens who told Human Rights Watch that they had been arbitrarily detained by the military. One of them, Ali Ibrahim Hilole, was at a shop across from the military camp buying items for a hospitalized relative when a military officer said to him: “Why are you standing here? So you’re al-Shabaab.” Soldiers forced him to accompany them to the camp, where they kicked him and told him to roll around on the ground.

 

Yusuf Khalif Mohamed, a long distance truck driver, stopped in Garissa for a soft drink on his way from Mombasa to Dadaab, where he was to make a food delivery for UNICEF. He parked his truck near the military camp, not knowing that parking was prohibited there. A military officer forced him to come to the camp, where soldiers threw a 20-liter container of water on him, forced him to roll on the ground, kicked him on the side, and hit him on the head with the butt of a gun. Mohamed told Human Rights Watch that one of them said, “I think you are al-Shabaab. You are bothering us in Somalia, and now you’ve come to bother us here.”

 

Both men, along with at least five to seven others who were similarly detained and mistreated – most of them truck drivers, and all of them Kenyan citizens – were released after 30 minutes. They were not interrogated or charged with any crime.

 

A Human Rights Watch researcher who attempted to visit the military camp to speak to the officer in charge witnessed soldiers forcing several men to lie down in the dirt and forcing another man to frog-jump across the field and to assume various gymnastic positions. Military personnel refused entry to Human Rights Watch, one of them stating, “There are no human rights here.”

 

The events in Garissa follow a series of human rights violations by security forces against ethnic Somalis and others. On November 11, soldiers in Garissa rounded up ethnic Somalis arbitrarily on the basis of their appearance, beat them, and forced them to sit in dirty water while interrogating them.

 

On November 24, following two grenade attacks on civilian targets in Garissa and an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a military convoy in Mandera,

police and soldiers rounded up hundreds of suspects in both towns. Some were beaten so severely that they suffered broken limbs. In the days following the attacks, suspects were arrested at random. Human Rights Watch interviewed some who were taken to Garissa military camp and forced to do humiliating exercises, such as standing on their heads, and were beaten if they could not comply.

 

Explosions in the town of Wajir in early December were also followed by arbitrary arrests and beatings. A local activist in Wajir told Human Rights Watch that after an IED went off on December 12, injuring an intelligence officer and several others, police and soldiers rounded up and beat ethnic Somalis over the next three days.

 

“They criminalize all Somali people,” he said. “Whenever a crime is committed, detaining and torturing people doesn’t seem like a good security strategy. It is creating a barrier between the people and the security forces.”

 

The worst abuses took place at Dadaab, home to over 460,000 mostly Somali refugees. After further explosions targeting police vehicles on December 19 and 20, one of them killing a police officer, police reacted angrily, beating refugees, and, in several cases, raping women. The chair of the Supreme Council of Muslims of Kenya, which conducted investigations in the camps, said that Kenyan police raped at least seven women following the explosions. Other victims suffered broken limbs.

 

A Garissa-based organization, Citizen Rights Watch, found that on the same occasion

police looted dozens of shops, stealing over 27 million Kenyan shillings (US$310,000) worth of property and money that refugee traders stored in their shops.

Garissa residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch complained that police have not conducted thorough investigations to identify the actual perpetrators of either the initial attacks or the subsequent abuses by the security forces.

 

“Kenya’s security forces are rightly concerned about attacks by suspected al-Shabaab members, and should be doing more, not less, to identify the attackers,” Bekele said. “But beating, raping, and humiliating innocent Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees accomplishes nothing. Those in the security forces who are responsible for these abuses should be investigated and prosecuted.”

 

 

..

[OdaySomali]

Nov 25, 2011

Kenya arrests hundreds of Somalis after deadly attacks blamed on al-Shabaab

 

Kenyan authorities have arrested hundreds of Somalis after attacks, a local broadcaster KTN reported on Friday.

 

The arrests seemed to be focused on ethnic Somalis who live in the north-east of the country.

 

Kenya launched a military assault against the al-Shabaab militia in neighbouring Somalia, sending in hundreds of troops, backed by the air force, to set up a buffer area in the border region.

 

 

December 8, 2011

 

100 'suspects' arrested after attack

More than 100 Somali 'suspects' were arrested at the Dadaab refugee camp on Tuesday following an attack a day earlier that killed a policeman and wounded three other officers.

 

North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Joseph ole Serian told Capital News that the suspects were being interrogated over the attack and those found culpable would be arraigned in court.

 

“Yes, we have arrested 100 suspects in today’s (Tuesday’s) security operation,” the PC said.

 

There was no immediate indication what charges would be preferred against the suspects.

 

“Others are being interrogated to establish if they were involved in the attack or any other criminal activity in the camp,” the officer said.

 

..

[OdaySomali]

Kenya Arests 300 Somalis.

 

 

MANDERA, Kenya — Following an explosion in which one Kenyan soldier was killed, more than 300 Somalis living nearby were arrested by Kenya military forces

, said Mandera Town Council Chairman Mohamed Adan Khalif.

 

He said he had been inside the police station and

had seen many people who had been severely beaten. A prominent local businessman and the imam of the Mandera Jamia mosque seemed to have broken arms

, he said.

 

“Whenever attacks occurred in our town our military officers turns against our innocent population living in the town,” he said. “We fear if this kind of harassment continues

, the (Kenyan army) will lose the hearts and minds of the locals ... Nobody shall expect a co-operation from intimidated people.”

 

The explosion was believed to be caused by a land mine, said provincial police boss Leo Nyongesa. Security officers were combing the scene of crime for clues but the truck they were riding in was destroyed, he said.

 

Kenyan planes bombed two suspected al-Shabab camps on Wednesday, Chirchir said Thursday.

..

[OdaySomali]

Rape by Kenyan Police

 

 

In 2010 Human Rights Watch interviewed Somali women who were raped by Kenyan police near Dadaab.

Despite promises from the police that they would conduct investigations into allegations of rape and other police abuses, none of the officers implicated in the rapes were ever prosecuted.

 

In January 2011 Human Rights Watch received allegations of Kenyan police raping a newly arrived asylum seekers. According to a journalist who interviewed the victims shortly after the incident, the victims were raped by three police officers from Dadaab police station. UNHCR staff confirmed that they had received the rape report.

 

Police told Human Rights Watch they were aware of the cases, but claimed that their investigations did not enable them to identify the perpetrators. No one was prosecuted for the crimes

; instead, the police response was to transfer the implicated police officers from Dadaab to other stations.

 

..

[OdaySomali]

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[OdaySomali]

Soomaalaay listen up!

 

Soomaaloow hadaydun nabad doonaysaan,

caalamka soo gaadhaysaan,

oo faqri iyo darxumo ka baxaysaan,

waa inaydun isgarowsataan,

Isu hiilisaan,

oo wada tashataan.

 

Waa inaydun is saamaxdaan,

sinaan iyo cadaalad iskula dhaqantaan,

oo isu dulqaadataan,

isku qorshiyo talo noqotaan,

nimcadiina wada qaybsataan,

mustaqbalkiina ka fikirtaan,

Cadowgiina ka feejignaataan.

 

Waa inaydun nimcada Alle' garataan,

dhulkiinu idinku filan yahay,

oo ininka badanyahay qirataan,

in khayraadku buuxdhaaf yahay,

oo cadowhu dire diraa yahay,

weligiin ogaataan.

 

Waa inaydun diinta ku noqotaan,

qalbigiina daahirtaan,

oo qabyaalada iska masaxtaan,

walaalnimadiina adkaysaan,

gacalnimadii soo celisaan,

raxmadiina is tustaan.

 

Waa inaydun Somalinimadii noolaysaan,

oo diinta mooyaane',

waxa kaloodhan ka saraysiisaan,

danta guud ogsanaataan.

gacmo wadajir ayay wax ku gooyaan, xasuusataan.

[OdaySomali]

Inagu filan oo inaga badan!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Shaydaankaa idiin sheekeeyee, Inagu filan oo inaga badan!!!

[OdaySomali]

 

 

 

Hay’ada Kirishtaanka Soomaalida ayaa ku guuleysatay in diinta islaamka laga saaro 600 oo muwaadiniin soomaali ah

 

Hay’ada kirishtaanka laga leeyahay wadanka Mareykanka oo kaashaneysa Hay’ada Kirishtaanka Soomaalida ayaa ku guuleysatay in diinta islaamka laga saaro 600 oo muwaadiniin soomaali ah oo iyagu ku sugan wadanka Kenya kuwaasoo kasoo bara kacay dagaalada ka socda wadanka soomaaliya gaar ahaan magaalada Muqdisho Hay’adaasi Kirishtaanka soomaalida ayaa howla dar dar galiyay qaxootiga kawada xirooyinka ay ku nool yihiin soomaalida kasoo bara kacday dagaalada ka socda muqdisho

 

http://xamarcade.net/news.php?readmore=29

[Yunis]

OdaySomali,

 

Great work - reality contrast of politics section and their endless juvenile virtual fights

[OdaySomali]

Kenya wants to annex the Somali Maritime Economic Exclusive Zone.

 

 

(Reuters) - A row between Kenya and Somalia over their maritime border may deter multinational oil companies from exploring for oil and gas offshore east Africa, and a Somali official warned that the argument could escalate.

 

The two coastal nations disagree over the location of their boundary line in the Indian Ocean. At stake are their legal claims to sell rights for exploration and collect revenue from any discovery.

 

Kenya recently identified eight new offshore exploration blocks available for licensing, and all but one of them are located in the contested area.

 

"The issue between Somalia and Kenya is not a dispute; it is a territorial argument that came after oil and gas companies became interested in the region," Abdullahi Haji, Somalia's minister of foreign affairs, told Reuters in Mogadishu.

 

"If the argument continues unsolved, it will change into a dispute that may result at least in souring the deep relation between our two countries and (cause a) war at last," he said.

 

East Africa has become a hot spot for oil and gas exploration, spurred by new finds in waters off countries including Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique. In the Horn of Africa, Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions have also licensed exploration blocks.

 

Kenya announced its first oil discovery in March by British oil firm Tullow Plc, which was on land.

 

The row between Kenya and Somalia threatens to upend some exploration rights that Kenya has granted to oil and gas companies, which have already started exploring in the area.

 

French firm Total and Texas-based Anadarko and the only two companies so far holding licenses from Kenya to blocks in the disputed area. They have no immediate plans to drill there. Both companies declined to comment on the border issue.

 

UN INTERVENTION?

 

Martin Heya, Kenya's petroleum commissioner, said he was confident the United Nations, which could be requested to help delineate the border, would agree with his country's view, and he expected companies to continue their exploration activities.

 

"Do you stop working just because the boundaries have not been determined? No," he told Reuters.

Consultants involved in border demarcation said the two countries won't have a legitimate boundary until they sign a treaty that delimits the border, but that is unlikely to happen until Somalia has a stable government.

 

Heya says the maritime border between the two countries should run horizontally east from the point at which the two countries touch on land. The practice in east Africa has been for boundaries to run along the line of latitude, Heya said.

"For the time being, this is where we believe the border should be," he said, referring to the horizontal east-west maritime border.

Somali officials say the onshore border continues into the ocean diagonally southeast and that a horizontal border would be unfair.

 

If the Somalia-Kenya border was continuous from land into the ocean, making it lie diagonally from the northwest to the southeast, Kenya would be left with a small triangle in the Indian Ocean over which it could claim mineral rights.

 

Kenya has had stable diplomatic relations with its war-torn neighbor, but the east African economic powerhouse sent troops into Somalia last October in pursuit of al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, accusing the militants of cross-border attacks on its territory.

 

UNSTABLE SOMALIA

 

Joshua Brien, a legal adviser with the Commonwealth Secretariat, who has consulted with Kenya on maritime border matters, said the two countries won't have a legitimate boundary until they write and sign a treaty.

 

The absence of a stable government in Somalia could hinder this process, he said.

 

Somalia's government has been battling an insurgency by al Qaeda-linked rebels for years and barely controls the capital, even with the help of an African peace-keeping force executing a U.N. mandate to prop up its Western-backed government. It is unlikely it would have the ability to wage a war on Kenya.

 

Brien also said the two countries' border disagreement is not unique. Throughout the world there are unresolved maritime boundaries.

 

"It is not uncommon for maritime boundary issues to become heated, especially where petroleum exploration and development is concerned," he said.

 

"In the case of Somalia, the matter is exacerbated by the governance and offshore security situation in that country, both of which are well known."

 

Kenya is pushing on with oil and gas exploration, but petroleum commissioner Heya acknowledged the border dispute could cause problems in the future.

 

Heya said companies will be unable to drill in their respective blocks until the boundary is settled, because it will be unclear where to direct revenue from a resource discovery.

 

"Where the revenue goes is not apparent," Heya said.

 

(Additional reporting by Mohamed Ahmed in Mogadishu; Editing by James Macharia and Jane Baird)

[OdaySomali]

The encroaching sand dunes of Somalia - Sand dunes as far as 70km inland from the coast.

 

 

I want to make you all aware of the encroaching sand dunes.

 

These sand dunes are causing the desertification of entire swathes of land. If you look at google earth/maps satellite images you will see KM's upon KM's of land that has become pure desert aka sand dunes - as far 70km inland from the coast.

 

These sand dunes stretch from around Hobyo to as far South as Barawe.

 

 

 

Merca

 

<img src="

 

Baacadweyn village that once was, is now engulfed by sand-dunes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coastal towns and Villages being engulfed and destoyed and rendered uninhabitable. Entire cities are udner threat and its one of the reasons Hobyo which was once a fairly large town has declined. Its seriously under threat if not too late alreadt.

 

 

[OdaySomali]

FOUND: 200 Somali migrants locked in underground bunker... for years

 

 

http://boramanews.com/index.php?opti...=66&Itemid=117

[OdaySomali]

An estimated 1,000 somalis killed in SOuth Africa 2003-2012

 

Ganacsato Soomaali ah oo boob loogu geystay K/Afrika

 

 

 

 

In ka badan 19 dukaan oo ay leeyihiin ganacsato Soomaali ah ayaa boob loogu geystay tuulooyinka hoos taga magaalada Rustenburg ee gobolka North West ee waddanka Koonfur Afrika.

 

Wararka ayaa sheegaya in boobkaasi ay geysteen shaqaale careysan oo dowladda ka codsanayay in loo kordhiyo mushaaraadka ay qaataan, kuwaasi oo dibad baxyo ka dhigay deegaanno hoos taga magaaladaasi.

 

Xoghayaha Jaaliyadda Soomaalida ee gobolka North West Cabdiraxmaan Yaasiin ayaa sheegay in booliska Koonfur Afrika ay is-hortaageen dadkii boobka geysanayay, walow boolisku uu awoodi waayay in uu joojiyo rabshadaha ay sameynayaan dadkaasi careysan.

 

Mr. Cabdiraxmaan ayaa intaasi raaciyay in aysan jirin waxyeeleyn loo geystay ganacsatada dukaamadooda boobka loo geystay, wuxuuna tilmaamay in ay ka cabsi qabaan in mar kale ay boob u geystaan shaqaalaha Koonfur Afrikaanka ah ee careysan.

 

Booliska gobolka North West ayaa gaaray deegaannada boobka laga geystay, waxayna heeggan ugu jiraan sidii ay uga hor tagi lahaayeen rabshado iyo boob mar kale ka dhaco deegaannadaasi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OdaySomali]

100 Somali families arrested - Norway

 

 

[OdaySomali]

The balkanisation of Somalia - unfolding before our very eyes.

 

I wanted to share this compelling and saddening article.

 

The balkanisation and de-facto annexation of Somalia, the final subjugation of the unruly Somali ethnic group, is unfolding before our very eyes. Ethiopia and Kenya are to be the beneficiaries, the A.U is the facilitator; the former secures long term interests and benefits and the latter makes a short term profit. "Lax walba halkay is dhigtaa lagu gowracaa".

 

Ilaahay ha u gargaaro dadkeena iyo dalkeena. Goormay Somali dantood garan ?

 

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/...nization.shtml