Will Yusuf Mohamed Siyaad (Indha-Cade) ever face Justice?

Written by: Abdikani Hussein and Mohamed Hassan. Yusuf Maxamed Siyaad Indho- Cade is most notorious and dangerous warlord in the history of Somalia’s two decades civil war. He currently holds a Military rank of General in the Somali defence force, which he is unqualified for to begin with. First, he has no experience as a Military General; Indho- Cade has been atrocious millions of Somali civilians for many years in Southern parts of Somalia. Most of his victims are still reputed and worried on his criminal actions. Before venturing as war profiteer, Yusuf Indho- Cade was a civilian truck driver in Somalia when Somalia was ruled under military dictatorship of Mohamed Siad Barre. Thereafter, the ruthless Indho- Cade became a militia leader with a brutal reputation in the lower Shabbele and Juballand in Southern Somalia. It is believed that some of the atrocities committed by Indo-Cade amounted to crimes against humanity. The Federal Republic of Somalia and Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon unveiled a new cabinet on November 02, 2012, keeping a delicate balance among clans of politics in Somalia. Meanwhile, the notorious military leader, Indho- Cade attended the ceremony. The question is how this government would function and be expected to bring stability in Somalia while in the midst of its top ranking military brass have blood on their hands. This is a toll order and the precedence set does not augur well for many Somalis whose basic fundamental rights have been trampled on. The Transitional federal Government habituated a short- term tactic and also negotiated with former militia leaders to empower Somalia’s weak military. In addition, the Federal Government should immediately force out all previous militia leaders and suspected war criminals such as Indho Cade. This is based on logical reasoning and with compliance the Somali new constitution. The new Somali constitution is explicit on the conduct of previous warlords and how the law should be applied against them. The new president should take a step further and ask for the assistance of the International community in investigating cases of war crimes committed against many Somalis so that the likes of Indo-Cade have their day in court to face their victims. This will be the beginning of serving justice to all; otherwise this would be the case of victor’s justice. The new parliament elected President Hassan Sheikh Mahamoud as the new president of Somalia. His administration should desist from cohabiting previous warlords or militia leaders in his new administration; more so not in the national army that is expected to be at the fore front of stabilising this war torn country. In hindsight, the Somalia Federal Government is promoting democracy and good governance but its leaders are condoning many corrupt practices that override the need for national reconciliation and nation building. The new administration of Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud was elected on a platform of hope and a means to get Somalia beyond the politics of tribal affiliation. After all, he was elected by parliamentarians across the tribal divide in Somalia least to say that excluded his immediate Abgaal clan. It is therefore naturally expected that this administration would respect Somali citizen’s voice, values, and ideas. Consequently, bring war criminals court to justice including Yusuf Indho- Cade. Indho- Cade has the reputation of talking to the media without thinking logically; sometimes to the detrimental to the Somali Government. Indho- Cade also looted millions of donated humanitarian aid to the famine victims. He was recently quoted as saying that "The Villa Somalia is unsafe place". He also claimed that top government officials are bribing to keep him quite from the media. Yusuf Indho- Cade savaged and excessively massacred millions of innocent civilians in Lower Shabeele and Jubbaland. Indho- Cade also terrorized civilians in many places such as Merca city in Shabeela region, and Afmadhow city Jubbaland in the Southern part of Somalia in the middle of Juba region. The fact is former president of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Sheikh Sharrif and Yusuf Indho Cade were both leaders of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and both mislead many innocent children’s to fight against Ethiopian troops and the (TFG) Transition Federal Government troops in the city of Idaale. There was over half million of Somali teens died in that war because of the influence and indoctrination of Indha Cade and Sheikh Shariif. Indho- Cade was responsible of killing innocent civilians in Kismayo. Yusuf Indho- Cade was also member of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU); later on he joined the Xisbul Islam Group which is affiliated with the Militant group Alshabab which is also partnership the terrorist group Al- Qaeda. Both these groups are a global threat to international peace and stability. Finally, Indho- Cade is also is single handily responsible for massacre of Banadiri ethnic minority group in Mogadishu, Merca and Barawo. It is my hope that Somali Citizens of like-minded urge tough action against (Indho-cade) Crimes. As a Somali peace loving citizen I am asking for the international criminal court to take strong action against Yusuf Mohamed Siyaad Indha Cade. Abdikani Hussein is a Senior Researcher and Blogger. He can be reached at abdikani_2000@yahoo.com. Mohamed Hassan is Master of Sociology and Higher- Education Consultant. He can be reached at Mohamedwest@hotmal.com

EU apthen releases nine suspected pirates off Somalia prehends

A boarding team from the Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand brings a group of suspected pirates and their skiff back to the Romanian warship. The suspects were apprehended off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday. They were released Thursday when European Union legal advisers determined it would be difficult to prosecute them. Photo courtesy European Union Naval Force. NAPLES, Italy — European Union Naval Force officials released nine suspected pirates Thursday because of insufficient criminal evidence after destroying their skiff off Somalia, said spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Jacqueline Sherriff. Maritime officials from four countries collaborated Wednesday morning to identify and destroy the suspected pirate boat about 420 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia’s largest city and capital. But the coalition’s legal advisers quickly determined that building a legal case against the suspects would be too time-consuming and onerous, and the nine Somali men onboard the skiff were released Thursday night onto a Somali beach, Sherriff said. The men did not have fishing gear on the skiff, which had previously been seen along the Somali shore in a known pirate area, Sherriff said. “Without their boat, without their fuel, without their ladders, what they are going to have to do now is start over. It’s going to cost them money, so we have made it very difficult for them,” Sherriff said. A Swedish patrol aircraft reported a “suspicious” skiff Wednesday morning. The Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand and the Turkish warship TCG Gemlik approached the skiff as a Luxembourg patrol aircraft kept watch. The suspected pirates tried to evade capture for more than an hour. “They were basically trying to outrun, rather foolishly, the helicopter,” Sherriff said. A Turkish boarding team eventually searched the skiff. The suspected pirates were then questioned and detained aboard the Romanian frigate. If the coalition had opted to move forward with prosecution, the men would have been sent to Romania, Sherriff said. “The likelihood of prosecution was difficult,” Sherriff said, adding that the suspects were not caught committing a crime. The vessel was sunk to prevent it from being used in future pirate attacks. “My message to the pirates is clear — we are watching you and we plan to capture you if you put to sea,” Rear Adm. Duncan Potts, the force’s operation commander, said in a statement Wednesday. The incident marked the coalition’s third run-in with suspected pirates since October after a three-month lull in reported piracy attacks during the dangerous summer monsoon season. The ITS San Giusto, the coalition’s flagship, searched and then destroyed a skiff with seven suspected pirates onboard on Oct. 10. EU forces apprehended seven suspected pirates onboard a fishing vessel near Somalia on Oct. 20. The men were released after prosecution was ruled out, Sherriff said. The EU Naval Force has arrested 128 pirates since the anti-piracy operation began in late 2008. Of those, 75 were prosecuted. In that time, the estimated success rate for pirate attacks near Somalia has dropped from 28 percent in 2009 to 15 percent in 2012, according to the coalition

Kenyans riot against ethnic Somalis

Police fire tear gas and warning shots to disperse protest against local Somalis, who are blamed for uptick in violence.Kenyan security forces fired tear gas and made arrests in order to clamp down on the demonstration [AFP] Kenyan police have fired tear gas at rioters attacking ethnic Somalis in the Nairobi district of "Little Mogadishu". The flare up in violence, which saw people hurling stones and smashing windows, came after a weekend bomb attack that killed nine people in the area. The violence on Monday coincided with the beginning of voter registration for the general election in March this year. In 2007, the last time that such a national poll was held, a dispute over the results fuelled ethnic violence that killed more than 1,200 people and forced about 300,000 from their homes. Angry mobs broke into Somali homes and shops in anger at Sunday's attack on a minibus which killed at least nine people in Nairobi's Eastleigh district which is dominated by Somali Kenyans and their ethnic kin who have fled fighting in Somalia. Rising xenophobia against Somalis in Kenya Ethnic Somalis, some armed with machetes, fought back and hurled stones at their attackers who responded with sling shots and stones. Paramilitary police fired volleys of teargas to prise the battling factions apart. "We are trying to create a buffer zone so that people cannot cross over," Moses Ombati, the Nairobi regional police commander, told reporters, pointing to a road that he said formed a rough boundary between the two communities. "These people are neighbours and business partners who need each other, so I don't think it will last long," he said. Gangs of looters ran amok as the security forces fought to quell the violence. One Somali trader, who gave her name only as Hamdi for fear of reprisal attacks, said she was worried the unrest would spread throughout Eastleigh's rundown estates. "I condemn anyone who carried out this heinous act," she said, referring to Sunday's bomb attack. "It's affecting many innocent civilians and is causing the Somali community to be targeted." Warning shots fired Authorities have blamed Somali fighters and their sympathisers for grenade and gun attacks in Kenya since Nairobi sent soldiers into neighbouring Somalia last year to drive out al-Shabab rebels, a radical religious group with links to al-Qaeda. "The xenophobic attacks must be stopped at all costs lest they escalate to unmanageable mayhem at grave costs to the nation" - Al-Amin Kimathi, Muslim Human Rights Forum chairman Attacks have intensified since Kenyan forces, fighting under an African Union banner, and Somali government troops routed al-Shabab from their last major urban bastion, the Somali port of Kismayu last month, forcing the rebels to flee. Two Kenyan soldiers were shot dead in the eastern town of Garissa, which is a rear base for Kenya troops fighting in Somalia as part of the regional African Union force, on Monday. In Nairobi's Eastleigh district, also known as "Little Mogadishu", crowds poured through the streets chanting "Somalis must go!", hurling stones and smashing windows of some Somali apartment blocks. Police fired warning shots in the air, but rioters were undeterred. They demanded that the government improve security in the district, which has borne the brunt of the grenade and gun attacks. Streets in Eastleigh, a congested residential and business area, were strewn with stones and shattered glass. Shops shuttered windows were and most business were closed in what is one of Nairobi's busiest trading centres. People stood on rooftops while some ethnic Somalis gestured for assistance through their windows. "These Somalis are getting used to this. Every day there is a grenade attack," said Evans, a non-Somali resident of the area wearing sandals and a dirty t-shirt with a print of Che Guevara. Children in school uniforms and their parents ran from school, after being trapped there by the violence. Others ran towards the police, with their hands in the air. At least a dozen Kenyan men were laid face down in one truck, as the authorities began to make arrests. Local businessman Godfrey Biketi who supplies meat to Eastleigh, urged his fellow Kenyans to be calm. "They should just chill. They're our neighbours," he said of the Somalis. "Even our country is fighting a war in Somalia. Now our country is becoming like theirs, it's not cool," he said. The Muslim Human Rights Forum said that even if the suspects responsible for Sunday's bombing were proven to be Somalis, it did not mean the whole community was involved. "The xenophobic attacks must be stopped at all costs lest they escalate to unmanageable mayhem at grave costs to the nation," the group's chairman Al-Amin Kimathi said.

New census data: Minnesota Somali population grows

Hundreds from the Minneapolis Somalian community gathered on Lake Street on Saturday to celebrate Somali Independence Day which is on July 1. MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota's Somali population is still the largest in the United States, according to new census data released early Thursday that raised the number of people of Somali ancestry in the state to more than 32,000. The new estimate is based on American Community Surveys taken by the bureau from 2008-2010 and updates last year's estimate of nearly 27,000 Somalis in the state. Because the estimates are derived from surveys, they include a margin of error, which means the census calculates the population could be as high as 36,000 or as low as 29,000. "The (Somali) community has long felt it is a bit larger than the Census Bureau estimate, but this number doesn't feel uncomfortable to me," State Demographer Tom Gillaspy said. The estimate includes both people born in Somalia and their descendants. Other states that have large Somali populations include Ohio with 12,300, Washington with 9,300 and California with 7,500, according to the latest estimates. The Somali immigration to Minnesota has been the largest part of a broader influx of people from sub-Saharan Africa in recent years in the state. That broader group now numbers more than 100,000 in the state, according to the new estimates, and promises to keep growing as young couples marry and have children. Like most immigrant groups, Somalis in Minnesota are younger than the general population with a median age of about 25 years. About half of the Somali population is 24 years old or younger. The median age of the state's general population is more than a decade older at 37 years, and only about a third of the population is 24 years old or younger. Members of Minnesota's Somali community have been in the news amid long-running federal investigations into recruiting and financing of people from the U.S. to train or fight for al-Shabab in Somalia. U.S. government officials consider the group to be a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaida. Two women, both U.S. citizens of Somali descent, were convicted last week of conspiring to funnel money to al-Shabab. They were among 20 people charged in the Minnesota investigations. Unlike some other populations in Minnesota, including the Hmong, those of Somali descent are not asked about their ancestry during the census. So the survey data represents the Census Bureau's best estimate of the population. The data released early Thursday also includes snapshots into more than 40 topics. For instance, the state's overall median household income is about $56,500, but there were wide differences in income from race to race. Asian households had the highest median income at about $61,000 followed by white households at $58,500. Black households reported the lowest median incomes at $27,500. Gillaspy said the data was not surprising since the household incomes of Asian families have been increasing in recent years.

A changing sense of Somaliness: Somali women in London and Toronto

This article considers how direct and indirect transnational linkages influence Somali refugee women settling in London, England and Toronto, Canada, and lead to shifts in identity in resettlement contexts. Drawing on interviews with Somali refugee women and discussions with resettlement staff, this article shows that under influences of distant and local linkages with other Somalis and through the cultural and social influences of the receiving society, Somali women develop a changing sense of their own Somaliness. The article argues that indicators of belonging, such as dress, religion and language, come to hold new and increased value within the new context, and familiar facets of national, cultural and religious identity shift in significance in response to competing influences and are used as intentional signifiers of identity. Este artículo considera cómo los vínculos transnacionales directos e indirectos influyen en el establecimiento de las mujeres somalíes refugiadas en Londres, Inglaterra, y Toronto, Canadá, y conducen a cambios en la identidad en los contextos de reasentamiento. Basándose en entrevistas con mujeres refugiadas somalíes y en discusiones con personal de reasentamiento, este artículo muestra que bajo las influencias de vínculos distantes y locales con otros somalíes y a través de las influencias culturales y sociales de la sociedad receptora, las mujeres somalíes desarrollan un cambiante sentido de su propia somalidad. Este artículo propone que los indicadores de pertenencia, tales como vestimenta, religión e idioma, toman un nuevo y mayor valor dentro del nuevo contexto, y las facetas conocidas de identidad nacional, cultural y religiosa cambian en significancia en respuesta a influencias que compiten entre sí y son utilizadas como significadores intencionales de identidad.

Charcoal business threatens deforestation in northern Somalia

Tom Bayly reports. November,22, 2012.In Somaliland, the semi-desert territory that self-proclaimed independence from Somali in 1991, for many people cutting trees is the only way to make a living.They cut the trees and burn them to make charcoal that can be sold. However, there is growing concern that the forest could soon turn into desert.

European Union gives Somalia $200 million in aid

By Yara Bayoumy, Reuters / November 3, 2012 The European Union began a new aid program for Somalia Saturday. The goal is to restore a central government, improve the legal system, education, and security in a country that recently saw an end to more than two decades of conflict. A truck driver walks past a warehouse to his vehicle in Mogadishu's seaport October 30. The seaport is currently experiencing an unprecedented amount of traffic as economic activity resumes in Mogadishu after almost two decades of civil war. The European Union has given Somalia 158 million euros or $200 million to improve education, the legal system and security, its new envoy said on Saturday, as the Horn of Africa nation tries to recover from more than two decades of conflict. 4 ways to prevent natural disasters from becoming human tragedies Difference Maker:Little newspaper gives hope to Africans who've fled to Israel Zimbabwe turns to drought-resistant crops. The new aid program follows the election in September of a new Somali president, the culmination of a regionally brokered, U.N.-backed effort to restore central government control and end fighting that has killed tens of thousands of people. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected in the first vote of its kind since Somalia slid into civil war in 1991, is grappling with corruption, an Islamist insurgency and piracy along the country's strategic Indian Ocean shipping route. RELATED: 4 ways to prevent natural disasters from becoming human tragedies "After 21 years, the government is finally rebuilding the systems of a functional state at local, regional and central levels," Michele Cervone d'Urso, the EU's special envoy to Somalia, told Reuters. "The EU is more committed to work directly and in partnership with Somalis. We will ask the implementing agencies to work more closely with the government and civil society." A suicide bombing in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday highlighted the challenges faced by the new Somali leader .

SOMALIA: Puntland Presidential hopeful warns Farole over violence

SOMALIA: Puntland Presidential hopeful warns Farole over violence Puntland region presidential hopeful Abdirahman Mohamed Hassan has accused the sitting president Abdirahman Farole of carrying out massacre in Gardo. Speaking from the Egyptian capital, Mr. Hassan has voiced concern about the recent clashes between protesters and security forces in the pirate-infested semi-autonomous region. A flare-up of violence hit the third largest town in Bari province of Gardo on Friday after a Presidential convey led by Farole visited the region with heavy military. The demonstrators challenged Farole’s plans to postponed the regional elections slotted for the 9th of January 2013. The protesters waved signs reading “No Farole. No #5 years”, “We don’t want Farole.” Prior to his entry of the town, the convey were held outside for more than two hours by locals who blocked the roads with stones and burning tyres of tires. At least one lady, named as Fatima Ayah, was killed and more than four injured when Farole’s security forces opened fire on the protesters. The presidential candidate offered his condolences to the family and friends of Fatima and the injured. He warned Farole of destabilizing the relatively peaceful region. He described the incident as an atrocity similar to the ones committed by Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddafi and president al Assad. He said the people will not tolerate such aggression and cold killings and called for calm.

Ethiopia: Federal High Court Expresses Doubts About Eskinder Nega’s Conviction

Ethiopia: Federal High Court Expresses Doubts About Eskinder Nega’s Conviction Ethiopia's highest court on Thursday delayed the appeal of journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition leader Andualem Arage by demanding that prosecutors justify their convictions. (Photo: Eskinder Nega's wife Serkalem Fasil accepts the 2012 "PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award" on her husband's behalf in New York last spring./Tadias Magazine/file) Ethiopian Court Demands Justification for Journalist’s Conviction. ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia’s Federal Supreme Court has postponed hearing an appeal of the conviction of prominent Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition leader Andualem Arage. But the court gave its first indication Thursday that charges brought by prosecutors under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation may not be that strong by demanding that prosecutors justify the June convictions. Journalist Eskinder Nega received an 18-year sentence, while opposition politician Andualem Arage is serving life in prison on terrorism-related charges. Andualem’s lawyer, Abebe Guta, said the court has found many irregularities in the prosecution’s charges. “As they scrutinized our ground of appeal they found so many legal and factual irregularities,” said Abebe. “Therefore, before the ruling passes, that means before our appeal is accepted or approved, they wanted to summon the prosecution officers to come and justify.” Maran Turner, the executive director of Freedom Now, a Washington D.C.- based organization that works on individual prisoners of conscience cases, said the latest developments are positive. Freedom Now has been supporting Eskinder and brought his case before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. “It seems to me that the court also is confounded by the charges against Eskinder and the other defendants,” Turner said. “So the fact that the court has postponed the case, it obviously acknowledges the flaws that we see, which is that the charges themselves are flawed. In fact, the case is flawed from the very beginning of arrest.” Eskinder, Anualem and more than 20 others were found guilty of ties to a U.S.-based opposition group, Ginbot 7, classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government. Amnesty International and other rights advocacy groups have said the trial was a sham used to silence dissent. The prosecution will need to justify its convictions before the court on December 19.

Location Gives Tiny State Prime Access to Big Riches

Location Gives Tiny State Prime Access to Big Riches By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Published: May 30, 2008 DJIBOUTI — For centuries, nomads have dropped down from the rocky hills around here to carve bricks of salt from an ancient lake and haul them away on the backs of camels. Enlarge This Image Jehad Nga for The New York Times U.S.-led company Salt Investment SA has launched a $70 million operation to industrialize the collection of Djibouti’s plentiful salt. Related A Conflict’s Buffer Zone: Rocks, and Inches (May 25, 2008) Enlarge This Image Jehad Nga for The New York Times Workers loads thousands of pounds of sugar onto a ship that will eventually make its way to the Persian Gulf. Due to its close proximity to Yemen, Djibouti's port has seen business booming as more companies are using the port to get their goods to the Gulf. Djibouti sits along some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. But a new salt miner is giving it a try, and he may be a harbinger of what's happening here. “As a salt person, my first impression was why was all this salt just sitting here,“ said Daniel R. Sutton, an American salt miner who is overseeing a new $70 million operation to industrialize the collection of Djibouti’s plentiful salt. “There’s 50 square miles of salt. It runs 20 to 30 feet deep. This could be huge.“ Djibouti is becoming the little country of big dreams. Hundreds of millions of dollars of overseas investment is pouring in, promising to turn this sleepy, sweltering mini-state, which right now does not even have a stoplight, into something of an African trade center. There are gold miners from India, geothermal experts from Iceland, Turkish hotel managers, Saudi oil engineers, French bankers and American military contractors. Tycoons from Dubai are pumping in a billion dollars just on their own, largely for the country’s port, a gateway to the region. There is even a project on paper to build a multibillion-dollar, 18-mile bridge across the Red Sea, captained by Tarek bin Laden, the half brother of Osama bin Laden. Djibouti does not have many people — about 500,000 — and few outsiders have heard of it. Its soil is mostly sand, it is unearthly hot — often more than 100 degrees — and just about everything, from bottled water to rice to gasoline, is imported. But if there was ever an example of location, location, location, it is here. Djibouti sits at the mouth of the Red Sea, where Africa and Asia nearly touch. It overlooks some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, especially for oil heading from the Persian Gulf to Europe and the United States. And because of its strategic position, both France and the United States have military bases here. Shipping is already big business in this country — and it’s getting even bigger, with investors from Dubai hoping to expand the Port of Djibouti to 3 million containers a year from its current capacity of 300,000. Dubai World, a large holding company, has also bought a controlling share in a local airline and built an industrial park, new roads and a $200 million, five-star hotel, with gurgling fountains and possibly the greenest lawn in the Horn of Africa. “Djibouti is perfectly positioned to become a services and logistics hub,“ explained Jerome Martins Oliveira, the chief executive officer of the port, which is operated by a subsidiary of Dubai World. He said Djibouti could become the central link between the raw materials of Africa and the oil wealth of Arabia, with Dubai as its main partner. Dubai is actually the country’s model for development, said Djibouti’s foreign minister, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf. “We’re a small country with a big port,” he said “And we’re even better located than Dubai.” Clearly, little Djibouti has a long way to go. While Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates and a very rich city-state, is building the world’s tallest building, the highest building here is six stories. Djibouti is ranked 149 out of 177 on the United Nations human development index, which measures life span, education and income. But Djibouti’s smallness — it basically has one city, known as Djibouti town — is a virtue, business people say. “If you need something, the government responds very fast,” said Nikhil Bhuta, the chief financial officer for the JB Group, an Indian mining company. Mr. Bhuta said he had set up mines across Africa but never had he experienced such generous terms of business, like the deal he struck with the Djiboutian government to split gold profits 80 percent for his company, 20 percent for the government. “In Africa, you never even get 50 percent,” he said. Other selling points are a stable currency that is pegged to the American dollar, excellent French food and the fact that Djibouti is an outpost of relative stability in the Horn of Africa, a region constantly plagued by war, famine and drought — sometimes all at the same time. “If you want to participate in the development of this region, Djibouti is the only place to be,” said Ould Amar Yahya, the director of a commercial bank that opened a branch in Djibouti a year ago. “Ethiopia has too many regulations. Sudan has the embargo. Eritrea has serious problems, and Somalia is too violent.” But there’s a very visible cloud on the horizon: Eritrea. Djibouti’s prickly neighbor recently moved more than 1,000 soldiers into a disputed border zone, and Djiboutian officials fear war may break out at any moment. The troops are heavily armed and literally inches apart. “We’ve got a lot going on right now,” Mr. Youssouf said. “Maybe the Eritreans are jealous.” Local customs can also be a bit of a minefield. The population here is predominantly Muslim, divided between Somalis and Afars, a nomadic group that plies the desert and sticks to its traditions. Mr. Sutton said that shortly after he arrived to begin the salt mining operation, an Afar chief threatened to kill him. “He was about 4-foot-tall with a 6-foot stick,” Mr. Sutton said. The chief was apparently angry that Mr. Sutton had not paid his respects. The chief’s people live around the salt flats. Mr. Sutton said that he had agreed to hire as many Afars as possible and that he and the chief are now friends.

Working For Better Somalia: the other al-Shabaab

Working For Better Somalia: the other al-Shabaab by Abukar Arman Friday, November 23, 2012 On one hand, “youth”—as the cliché goes—“are the backbone and the hope of every nation”. On the other hand, youth could be a thorn on the side and a nightmare of a nation. Somalia has seen both the Somali Youth League (SYL) that mobilized a broad based anti-colonial movement that ultimately won independence for the country and the infamous al-Shabaab that is still wreaking havoc in current day Somalia…. This brief comment is about Somalia’s other al-Shabaab; the good side of the Somali youth that does not get much media coverage! The term al-Shabaab means ‘The Youth’ in Arabic. Though in the contemporary lexicon the term connotes extremism, militancy, and criminality, the youth at hand stand for the opposite of what their counterpart stands for. While good Somali youth are found both in the homeland and in the diaspora, I would be focusing on the latter. Today is the commencement of the 4th Annual Somali Diaspora Youth (SDY) Conference. This and previous conferences whose samples are linked below were intended to inspire participants to actively frame the legacy that they want leave behind; to network and inspire one another; to think big work hard and hope for better; to unleash their brainpower to become agents of positive change; and yes, to open their neatly packaged idealism and test them on the ground in terms practicality and benefit. A handful of projects spearheaded by youth who are affiliated with SDY are already (and in some cases are in the process of) being implemented in Somalia. These projects range from literacy campaign, peace/democracy advocacy, orphan care, humanitarian assistance, to institutional capacity-building.