IMO to support Somalia to repress piracy Briefing 32/2009 2 November 2009 IMO to support Somalia to repress piracy International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Mr. Efthimios Mitropoulos has reiterated IMO’s assurance to the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, Mr. Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, that the Organization stands ready to assist Somalia in... 

Date: 03rd October 2009 Ref: OHRC/PR1/1109 PRESS RELEASE PUNTLAND: PERSECUTION OF AND TRADING IN REFUGEES FROM THE OGADEN: ILLEGAL AND IMMORAL Recently, the pro-Ethiopian clan based entities of Puntland and Somaliland have stepped up their unlawful and inhumane acts against civilians hailing from the Ogaden. As usual, the two Ethiopian satellites are outbidding each other on maltreating and repatriating... 

Somali President survives mortar attack Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:43:37 GMT Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed Somalia’s President has escaped a surprise mortar attack shortly after his plane landed in Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International airport. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was returning from an official visit to Yemen on Wednesday when Al-Shabaab insurgents fired mortars at his... 

On Somalia, UN’s Pascoe Blames Shabaab for Marketplace Shelling, Hiring Hush Up By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, October 27 — Having been turned back from Somali airspace during a mortar attack on the Mogadishu airport, the UN’s political chief Lynn Pascoe on Tuesday presented to the Press a rosy picture of successful peacekeeping by Burundi and Uganda. Inner City Press asked... 

PRESS RELEASE 029/2009 Somali Prime Minister and UN top official open new High Level Committee Nairobi, 23 October 2009 – Somalia’s Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe, and the UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, have called for an urgent increase in international support for Somalia. Opening... 

Save The Oil October 12, 2009: The Ethiopian government is assuring oil companies that the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) does not have the military capabilities to threaten oil exploration and production operations in the Ogaden region. For the last two months ONLF spokespeople have issued statements warning foreign oil companies that they could suffer attacks on their Ogaden operations.... 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, for centuries, Europeans dominated the African continent. The white man arrogated to himself the right to rule and to be obeyed by the non-white; his mission, he claimed, was to “civilize” Africa. Under this cloak, the Europeans robbed the continent of vast riches and inflicted unimaginable suffering on the African people. All this makes a sad story, but now we... 

A Chanhassen man was charged with lying to the FBI about a recent trip in a case that is related to a federal investigation into the disappearance of local Somali men. A Twin Cities man was charged Tuesday in federal court with lying to FBI agents investigating the disappearance of local Somali men believed to have been recruited to fight with terrorists in Somalia. Appearing for the first time at... 

Suspected Somali pirates taken to Spain (AP) – Oct 13, 2009 MADRID — The Defense Ministry says two Somalis arrested for allegedly taking part in the hijacking of a Spanish trawler have been brought to Madrid and placed in custody. The two are suspected of helping in the Oct. 2 hijacking of the Alakrana tuna vessel with 36 crew members aboard, some 375 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. The... 

KAMPALA — Ugandan authorities on Wednesday released Somalia’s junior defence minister Youssuf Mohamed Siad after he was arrested by mistake overnight in the capital Kampala, the army spokesman said. Siad had entered Uganda by road from neighbouring Kenya, raising suspicions of security officials in the East African country, currently hosting a regional security meeting and about to celebrate... 

Somali minister held in Uganda Ugandan troops make up about half the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia [AFP] Uganda has confirmed that Somalia’s state minister for defence is being detained at an undisclosed location in the capital. Earlier reports, citing relatives and government sources, said Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, a former warlord also known as “Inda’ade”... 

Somalia presents the single largest humanitarian challenge in the world, where food crisis, droughts and violence continue to devastate the country, a leading aid group says. Over 3.6 million people, or half of Somalia’s population, are currently in desperate need of aid, International aid organization, Oxfam GB, reported on Monday. “In terms of numbers of people, access to any form of... 

CHICAGO — Solving the civil strife and lawlessness which has ravaged Somalia for nearly two decades is an “easy” task that simply requires strong commitments, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said. “Finding a solution to the problem of Somalia is easy if there is strong willpower,” Sharif said in a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “If we think... 

NAIROBI — Three foreign workers with the French aid group Action Against Hunger (ACF) were freed Saturday after being held in Somalia since July, humanitarian agency sources and Somali officials said. The three, an American, a Zimbabwean and a Pakistani, boarded a plane in the southern town of Luq, and were expected to head to Nairobi. The three were snatched in Mandera, northern Kenya, on the night... 

by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio October 3, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — The president of Somalia said today he believes that recruiters who lured Minnesota men to fight with a terrorist group remain in the United States. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has been meeting non-stop this weekend with Somali-American community leaders in Minnesota as well as elected officials, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Ahmed... 

Somalia’s president says terrorism growing there ST. PAUL, Minn. — The president of Somalia said Saturday his government is challenged by terrorism — which he called a “foreign idea” — and asked the Somali diaspora support him as he struggles to create peace in his war-torn country. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed spoke briefly at a breakfast for Books for Africa, a nonprofit... 

PRESS RELEASE 027/2009 Somalilanders agree on way forward to presidential elections Nairobi, 02 October 2009 – The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has congratulated Somaliland officials on the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the way forward to holding presidential elections which had been previously postponed. “Let me congratulate the Somaliland political... 

United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) Letter to the members of the Somali Jaaliyadda (no 18) Nairobi, 30 September 2009 Salaam Aleikum Dear friends, I would like to wish you Eid Mubarak and send my warm greetings to one and all at this time of calls for peace and forgiveness. I believe the same spirit must prevail to ensure that the next year is one of expanding stability in Somalia... 

Washington D.C Metropolitan Area Somali Community welcomes the Somali delegation led by President Sh. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Contacts: Jamal Sh. Said (703) 703-870-5853 Hassan Warsame (703) 623-5273 somalipresidentvisitusa@gmail.com  Fairfax, Virginia, USA, 29 September 2009: The Somali community in the Washington D.C Metropolitan Area is delighted to announce a welcoming... 

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN (AP) UNITED NATIONS — Somalia is being hijacked by al-Qaida-linked terrorists who are better organized and more highly motivated than the ineffectual government in Mogadishu, and Sudan could be the next nation to fall under their influence, Ethiopia warned Saturday. “It is time that we abandon the fiction that this is a war just among Somalis. It is not,” Ethiopian... 

General Debate of the 64th Session (2009)Somalia H.E. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, President 25 September 2009 Statement Full text: Arabic (Check against delivery) Video: Arabic / English [RealPlayer, 21 min] (As delivered) Statement summary SHEIKH SHARIF SHEIKH AHMED, President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, thanked all those who had promoted peace and stability in his... 

General Debate of the 64th Session (2009) Somalia H.E. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, President UN Photo/Marco Castro 25 September 2009 Statement Full text: Arabic (Check against delivery) Video: Arabic / English [RealPlayer, 21 min] (As delivered) Statement summary SHEIKH SHARIF SHEIKH AHMED, President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, thanked all those who had promoted peace and... 

In Somalia, UN Denies Mercenary Use, Admits Areas Unserved, WFP and USAID Cancel Q&A By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, September 23 — In the wake in Somalia of the UN World Food Program’s self-investigation of the relation of its aid distribution system and the Al Shabaab rebels, Inner City Press on September 23 asked the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Mark Bowden... 

Joint Statement on the attack on AMISOM in Mogadishu  The European Union The InterGovernmental Authority on Development The League of Arab States The United Nations Norway The United States of America  Nairobi 17 September 2009: The European Union, the InterGovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the United Nations, Norway and the United States all  condemn in the strongest... 

In Somalia, UN Manufactures Consent As AMISOM Shoots Camels as Insurgents By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, September 15 — The UN, which nearly invariably uses as a defense against inaction on human rights abuses that only works in countries upon invitation, views Somalia through a different prism, it seems. How else to explain the dismissive response of the head of the UN’s Department...