Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Somalia’s President Assails U.N. Report on Corruption

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s president on Tuesday blasted a recent United Nations report that characterized the government’s security forces as ineffective and corrupt and said that as much as half the food aid to the country was routinely stolen.The president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, said that much of the information in the report “was not trustful” and “based on people on the street, not reality.”His comments added to a growing chorus of criticism surrounding this report, mainly from the parties that have been accused of wrongdoing, including Somali politicians and businessmen and the United Nations World Food Program.
The report, by the United Nations Security Council’s Monitoring Group on Somalia, made a number of stinging allegations: that officials in Somalia — one of the most violent and needy countries in the world — were collaborating with pirates; that the Somali security forces were “ineffective, disorganized and corrupt”; that United Nations contractors were helping insurgents; and that huge amounts of food aid was stolen.
Several independent experts on the country said that while the report might have had some minor faults, it captured the larger picture accurately.“There is broad consensus among Somali watchers that the overall findings of this report are right, though in a report of that size, of course there are going to be a couple mistakes,” said Ken Menkhaus, a professor of political science at Davidson College.
Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental group that aims to prevent or resolve deadly conflicts, called the report “a very solid piece of work,” adding that most of the allegations were “nothing new, but things we have been hearing for some time.”Clearly, Somalia can be a difficult place to find the truth.Nearly 20 years of unabated chaos have eviscerated all national institutions, and the current conflict between a weak transitional government and militant Islamists has left most of the country a no-go zone to outsiders. It has grown so dangerous that the United Nations has been forced to rely largely on Somali contractors and local aid organizations rather than its own staff members to monitor the enormous aid operation.Some of the fiercest criticism of the report has come from United Nations officials defending the World Food Program, the biggest aid agency in Somalia and a lifeline to millions of Somalis.
One United Nations official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said that the report overstated the amount of money the World Food Program paid to Somali transport contractors, and that it exaggerated the percentage of the transport budget that went to three businessmen in particular.
The official also argued that there was “no evidence” that one of the contractors had staged a hijacking of his own food trucks in 2008, as the report said, and that the contractor nevertheless had paid back all the food that disappeared that day.The official went on to criticize several other aspects of the report and said that a bonding system put in practice in 1997 — under which Somali contractors are required to replace or pay for any missing food — had drastically reduced the amount of food aid that was pilfered.
The report was commissioned by the Security Council as part of an effort to monitor an arms embargo on Somalia and other peace and security issues.In 2006, the same monitoring group said that hundreds of Somali jihadists had traveled to Lebanon to fight alongside Hezbollah, a claim that was widely dismissed as fiction.
However, the investigators behind that report are no longer with the group, and Mr. Menkhaus and Mr. Abdi, among others, said that Matt Bryden, the current coordinator, had spent many years in Somalia and was a seasoned Somali hand.Mr. Bryden defended the report this week in a series of e-mail messages. He said that some of the material provided to the group about the missing food supplies “involves inconsistencies” and that his team “received different answers at different times” from the parties involved.He also rejected the complaints from officials with the World Food Program. “The figures we have used in the report concerning the value of contracts and the percentage awarded to the three named contractors were provided to the Monitoring Group by W.F.P. officials,” he said. “W.F.P. would therefore appear to be contradicting itself.”
This week, Somali officials from Puntland, a pirate haven in northern Somalia, denied the allegations that they were collaborating with pirates and called the report “a feeble attempt to defame” the Puntland president.
Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia.

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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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