Friday, February 19, 2010

Feature: Mogadishu, a city haunted by fear


MOGADISHU, Feb. 20, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Ali and his brother, residents of the Somali capital Mogadishu, got up early on Saturday and walked a long way to the main camp of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to get their gunshot wounds treated by the peacekeepers' medical services.Saturday is usually the busiest day for AMISOM's clinic, with many Somali civilians, mostly wounded during fightings between the government forces and insurgents, waiting in long queues for hours just to see the doctor.Ali told Xinhua that he and his brother were the only two people left in their family, as the other members were all killed in the fightings between government forces and the rebels.Last year, Ali was shot in the back during the violence while this year, a bullet went through his brother's leg."We have no job, no food. They provide free treatment here, so we came," said Ali.The brothers were among some 400 civilians who came to the clinic in its "opening day" on every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.Before getting to see the doctor, they must first go through extremely strict security checks, under the gunpoint of a soldier lurking from the roof of the clinic."Everything should be controlled," AMISOM soldiers told Xinhua correspondents who arrived in the war-ravaged city Thursday in an embedded interview with the AU peacekeeping forces there.AMISOM's wariness was an echo of the deteriorating security situation in Somalia, where the transitional government and Islamic insurgents have been engaged in bloody fightings almost on a daily basis. The AMISOM barracks are among the main targets of attacks.On Sept. 17 last year, a suicide bomb attack by Islamist rebels on the headquarters of AU forces in Mogadishu left 17 peacekeepers dead while 29 others were wounded.AMISOM deputy commander Maj. Gen. Juvenal Niyonguruza, from Burundi, was among those killed while former AMISOM commander Gen. Nathan Mugisha, from Uganda, was wounded in the blast.At the gate of the clinic, patients were eagerly waiting to see the doctor."Don't shoot me, I will be killed." Xinhua correspondents were immediately refused by one of the patients when trying to record the scene with a camera."If they are found to have come to AMISOM, the Al Shabaab will kill them," AMISOM's public information officer Maj. Barigye Ba- Hoku told Xinhua.Inside the clinic, a three-year-old boy was getting his bleeding arm binded up. He suddenly burst into funk and began to cry when the correspondents approached and waved to him."He is afraid of your camera, he thought it's a gun," a nurse told Xinhua.The little boy witnessed the death of his parents last month, when they were shot dead by armed rebels. The militants then beated the boy with a gun and broke his arm. Since then he has been easily frightened with anything that looks like a gun, the nurse explained.Fear is not only haunting the three-year-old orphan, but also many civilians of the war-ravaged Somali capital.In Somalia, which has been plagued by civil strife since 1991, civilians have become victims of the endless fightings and the escalating violence.Over the past two decades, some 1.3 million people have been displaced by the conflicts, as the Horn of Africa nation was thrown into shambles.In the first month of 2010, clashes between government troops and Islamic rebels in central Somalia have caused a casualty of more than 500 civilians and 80,000 displaced, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
(Source: iStockAnalyst )

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Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

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The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

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