UK wastes money on failed Somalian state

The foreign aid Somalia gets to rebuild the country and keep the peace in the Horn of Africa is often siphoned off to clan militias. Now the UK – one of its key donors – is reviewing how it can continue its support of the East African nation.The money that is supposed to be used to strengthen security and democracy in Somalia seems not to be serving the correct purpose Somalia has been in chaos since 1991 History of State somali Collapse . It has no central government and the weak transitional federal government, or TFG, survives on foreign donations.The British Department for International Development is the second largest donor, after the European Commission, to UN programmes supporting the TFG, having committed 11 million pounds to date.The British money is financing a police force to keep the peace. But a report by the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia cited numerous allegations that the police had recruited clan militias so that they could collect salaries provided by international donors.“There are no morals there anymore. They just enlist people, militia, anybody who has money can do anything about Somalia,” says Omar Yusef, Director of Somalia Community Centre in London.Members of the Somalia Community Centre in London say everything is in the hands of former warlords.“There are no warlords Tyrant Riyaale as they call them but the government itself consists of Warlordism , but they don’t operate as individual warlords at present,” believes Abdulkadir Farah, Secretary of Somalia Community Centre.Abdulkadir Farah is convinced that less than 10% of the money meant for Somalia will actually reach people on the ground.The UN report gives details of mismanagement with examples such as police taking part in military engagements or selling weapons at Mogadishu’s main arms market. Other UN reports detail allegations of torture, indiscriminate shooting of civilians and harassment of journalists.“Somalia has been an accountability free zone now for over a decade and this is part of the problem, one of the reasons why Somali warlords, Somali leaders feel that they can get away with very serious human rights abuses is because there has been no accountability for so many years. And it seems to us that the Americans and the British and other external actors including the Ethiopians have been legitimising and empowering exactly those leaders who have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Somalia over the last decade and a half,” says Tom Porteous from Human Rights Watch, London.So the question is whether British taxpayers should continue funding the current regime in a far away African country.“Main impact of the South on the UK is that we’ve had many refugees coming here looking for safety as a result of what is happening in the South – it is in the interests of Africa and Europe and the world as a whole that there should be order and stability in Somalia,” says Hon Alun Michaels, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Chairman.But some in Britain believe there is always an option of withdrawal.“The kind of good, decent, law abiding liberal democratic forces, about which some Western media, and intellectuals, and some government people like to fantasize, do not exist in these places, or if they exist, they are too weak to make any difference. Everything we do should be done in the awareness that one day we will go home and the people on the ground will be left to do as best as they can,” says Anatole Lieven from King’s College.Although everyone in the UK agrees that there are only two options – either to work with the existing allies or walk away – Human Rights Watch believes that the UK should think more carefully about putting its weight behind a policy leading to serious human rights abuses in the name of counter terrorism, and that British officials should speak up about it, if they want their taxpayers feel that their expense is justified.

Pseudo-State Somaliland

Somalia: Somaliland and the Union of Islamic Courts’ peculiar relationship

The Somali Conflict Root causes , peace-building strategies

Kenya starts Somalia officials training

Kenya has started a training programme for Somalia’s civil servants in efforts to foster development in the war-torn country.Having had no government in place for 18 years, senior civil servants of the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) jetted into the country to learn public administration, enhancing good relations with neighbouring states and regional co-operation.The week-long training, which is being coordinated by the Foreign Affairs ministry, started Monday at the Kenya Institute of Administration.Speaking at the opening ceremony Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka said the country was committed to bringing stability and development in Somalia.“Kenya recognises the need to extend technical assistance, inform of training, as part of the broader effort in facilitating national reconstruction and building of the TFG,” he said...more..http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/591628/-/u64y1k/-/index.html

New breed of pirates follow old handbook,.. Spanish navy captures pirates suspected of cruise attack

It's enough to give the 'pirate' trade a bad name.After an accused Somali piracy suspect made his way tearfully through a court in New York, his worried mother, late last week, pleaded for compassion in his case.Adar Abdirahman Hassan said her teenage son - a "talented boy" and "a good student" - is no scourge of the sea, but instead, a confused kid who was roped into taking part in the kidnapping of U.S. ship captain, Richard Phillips.But how does her eldest child, Abdiweli Muse, who may have been the ringleader of the gang which stormed Phillips's U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on April 8, compare with those sea-dogs of yore, who once preyed upon slower boats and weaker men off Canada's East Coast?Do today's pirates hold a stolen candle to their bloodthirsty forefathers? And if they met on open water, how would the legendary likes of Captain Kidd and Black Bart view their modern heirs?Apparently, says one of Canada's most respected pirate experts, they would be embraced as following -remarkably closely - the age-old pirates' handbook."Black Bart would be proud," says Dan Conlin, curator at The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.Bart - Bartholomew Roberts - was the most skilled pirate of the golden age of his kind.During the early part of the 1700s, he captured more than 470 vessels, including in waters around Cape Breton and Newfoundland. It was fairly common for bandits to move up off Canada's shores every spring.Into the 1800s, their executed bodies were still displayed, decaying inside the clutches of gibbets, hung from posts in the Maritimes.Conlin, who will publish Piracy on the Atlantic - Robbery, Murder and Mayhem on Canada's East Coast this summer, says the high sea raiders of today and yesteryear are born from the same three ingredients - poverty, a weak local government and rich trade tempting them on the horizon...more..http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2009/04/27/9257861-sun.html
Spanish navy captures pirates suspected of cruise attack
MADRID (AFP) — A Spanish warship has intercepted a skiff carrying nine suspected Somali pirates believed to have attacked an Italian cruise ship at the weekend, the defence ministry said Monday.The Numancia frigate "intercepted a skiff with nine occupants who could be connected to the hijacking attempt of the Italian cruise ship which was eventually repelled by the boat," it said in a statement.The cruise liner Melody, carrying more than 1,500 people, was attacked on Saturday but Israeli security guards on board the ship responded to the pirates' gunfire and were able to repel them.After the hijacking attempt The Numancia, along with patrol planes from France and the Seychelles and an Indian navy ship, launched a high-seas hunt for the assailants.During the search, the naval mission found "two small boats with nine suspects on board very close to the scene of the attack against the cruise," the Spanish defence ministry said.The suspects abandoned one the boats and were later caught in the skiff. The Spanish navy handed over the suspects to a Seychelles ship since they were captured in the island nation's waters in the Indian Ocean...more..http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hG53oEZXtF6iHErxlqfb-kmEu0zg

Governor killed in Puntland

MOGADISHU --The governor of Karkar region in the semiautonomous region of Puntland in north Eastern Somalia aka PIRATESTAN has been killed by armed militias overnight in the region, officials said on Monday. Abdinasir Haji, the deputy governor Nugal region said that Yasin Sa’id Hussein, the governor and two of his security guards were killed by armed militias after they opened fire on his car while he was heading to the region to mediate between clan militias. It is unknown why the governor has been targeted but some reports suggest that clan militias killed him for inter clan retaliatory issues. Puntland regions are more peaceful that the south where IThe slamist rebels and government soldiers have been fighting for the last two years.

Somalia Parliament Demands Answers for Controversial Maritime Agreement with Kenya

The Somalia parliament is expected to demand answers today from President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's new government over a recently signed controversial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kenya. The agreement, which was signed in early April, involved their maritime boundary, but it ignited heated debate in the Somali government over its legality. Somalia's parliament expressed deep concerns about the agreement, saying the accord does not have a legal basis as long as it is not ratified by the national legislatur..more...http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-04-27-voa1.cfm

Yemeni forces free oil tanker, arrest 11 pirates

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemeni coast guard forces have freed a hijacked Yemeni oil tanker and arrested 11 Somali pirates, the first time the country has successfully retaken a seized vessel, officials said Monday.The coast guard exchanged gunfire with the pirates and took control of the oil tanker Qana on Sunday, a security official said.The vessel had been hijacked earlier in the day while heading between the two southern Yemeni ports of Mukalla and Aden. The security official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Yemen, an impoverished country on the southwestern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, is across the treacherous Gulf of Aden from Somalia, on the Horn of Africa. It's the first time Yemen's forces have successfully battled a hijacking since piracy began to surge in the Gulf of Aden a year ago.A strengthened international naval force has been patrolling the waters since the beginning of this yearPirates have hijacked more than 100 ships off the Somali coast over the last year, including one in a dramatic standoff between pirates and the U.S. Navy earlier this month. The Gulf of Aden is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes...more..http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090427/ap_on_re_mi_ea/piracy

Ongoing Power Struggle Between Hawiye Jehadist Get Very Ugly , Al-Shabab Terrorist key officer slain.. ‘Civilians caught in the middle of the fightin

A senior hawiye Terrorist belonging to the Hawiye Terrorist Islamist hardliners Al-Shabaab Hawiye has been shot dead on Sunday night by unknown gunmen in the Somalia capital Mogadishu - He was the first senior Al-Shabab Terrorist killed since the start of the hunt down missions between the rival Islamists of Al-Shabab and Islamist Islamic Courts Union weeks ago.hassan Tabliiq was gunned down by two men armed with pistols after Isha prayer in main Bakara market of Mogadishu, witnesses told Waagacusub Media A military wing of the USC\ ICU habar-gidirowned media outlets a part of Shabelle Media Network .Tabliiq was the man in charge of the financial department of Al-Shabab especially the money put on the heads of the persons in the group's list of assassinations.
People who witnessed the shootout said Tabliq defended himself with his pistol for minutes before being hit with several shots on the chest that later caused his sudden death after his pistol run out of bullets.It is not yet known who was behind the killing of Tabliq and no group has claimed the responsibility of his murdering. This comes after series of assassinations carried out by Al-Shabab extremists on members of Islamic Islamic Courts Union as allegation drawn by ICU spokesman but Al-Shabab Terrorist denied that.This seems to be a tit for tat actions between Al-Shabab which is the most radical Terrorist group in southern Somalia and Islamic Courts Union (abgaal wing)that supporting the new government.killing Fighting has everything to do with the ongoing power struggle between Hawiye jehadist.
General Yusuf Cisman Dhumal The Mogadishu police chief the only non-Hawiye official,Hawiye dominant Somali capital ..conform to us horrifying power Strugala.beteeen hawiye jihadist Al-Itihaad al-Islami to Al ... hawiye aka aways.Hizb-i-Islami . ,The USC Abgaal-Hawiye faction Hizb-i-Islami aka .. shareef.. Hizb-i-Islami and shabaab..aka alqaida.rival Hawiye subclans,DHUMALA career mogadishu Police Officer..Last 30 Years. The only left behind in mogadishu from jubbaland state of somalia citizen . when hawiye overthrew government of Mohammed Siad Bare in 1991..the oldest serving man .History of State somali Collapse . , told Us in a statement ..this is the worst I've ever seen", somalia is going to hell in a hand basket .
‘Civilians caught in the middle of the fighting'.
Ten killed in mortar attack+Exclusive Photo

Full Episode South Park Season 13 Episode 7, South Park - Somalia Pirates

South Park - Somalia Pirates Funny, very funny. Yes, I like to watch South Park, what about you? , April 22, 2009, South Park show for the new episode, Season 13 Episode 7 with title "Fatbeard."Cartman designs to escape from home to live of a hijack. Butters an a little group of enrolls join Cartman in his dream of enduring skull island where they'll caper in crystal clear fallses and find buried treasure. Cartman assures that paradise expects if they could just get to Somalia. Fatbeard Full Episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxlOCcwvsIM&feature=related

Habar gidir - hawiye Clan Islamic Courts to reopen in Mogadishu again..Where Is So-Called ‘Government??

MOGADISHU – Terrorist Sympasizer Hawiye clan Elders and Some parliamentarians have started efforts to reopen former clan Islamic Courts in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Talaban Parliament Lawmakers from hawiye habar-gidir sub clan, Saleban, said Sunday they were going to reopen Shirkole Islamic Court in Mogadishu .Somali talaban government, Lawmaker Abdi Mohamed Abtidon, said that they decided to reopen the court to restore peace and justice and urge the other tribes in Mogadishu to reopen their former courts. The move comes as .Terrorist Hassan Dahir Aweys Welcomes Sharia , calls for AMISOM to leave . Hawiye terrorism The Islamic Courts Union were ousted by the Ethiopian troops.The Stupid tribe of Hawiye, which is the most backward, ignorant and immoral tribe in Somalia, has savagely and inhumanely killed innocent Muslim Somali Men who were patrolling the streets of Muqadisho.The Stupid Hawiye killed Ten killed women and children also Five killed after HAWIYE Terrorist Attacked AU Somalia death Yesterday.These stupid hawiye's need to be given a good lesson by the International Community ,We earnestly call upon the world organizations and peace-loving people who value justice, truth, peace and security to strongly denounce SAVAGE HAWIYE Tribal . They don't want peace. They are making somalia violent again.it was the Hawiye tribe, lead by abgaal hawiye hawiye criminal Ali Mahdi Mohammed (USC Mahdi) habar gidir hawiye who is hawiye who desroyed History of State somali Collapse the capital city, and who for the past 19 years could not put a government together, and even held somalia hostage by holding onto the capital city, which does not belong to them.These hawiye savage's must be stopped and put in prison.Mired in civil war, the country is now at a dangerous crossroads with little hope for return to peaceful conditions. This is in spite of employment of peacekeeping forces of some neighbouring African countries. The country has been without a national government since 1991 and is regarded as a failed state. During this period 13 transitional governments were formed and the current one is the 14th.. The Islamic insurgency has gained phenomenal strength and controls most part of the country. The Islamic militants have sidelined the government which is veering towards collapse. Sea piracy off the Somalia coast has added a new dimension to the turmoil.
An Islamic Dark Age Looms in Somalia
Somali Extremists Have al Qaeda Ties
hawiye barbaric and genocidal funded, very sick and twisted vedio
mother and father.Brother of 13-year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow Speaking 13-Year-Old Somali Rape Victim Stoned to Death in Front of 1000 Spectators
AP Interview: Somali Terrorist leader will not rule out fighting UN peacekeepers
USC Hawiye clan......... Looking back destruction of somalia..

Somali Al-shabab Terrorist threatens to invade Kenya

NAIROBI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- A Somali rebel group which is fighting the transitional government of the Horn of Africa nation have threatened fresh attacks on Kenya, seeking annexing part of the east African nation's northern region and subject it to Islamic law.
North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Kimeu Maingi said Al-Shabaab militiamen have issued fresh threats to the Kenyan government, threatening to invade the northeastern region with the intention of annexing and subjecting it to Islamic Law. According to Kenya News Agency, Maingi said on Sunday that the militia groups have officially communicated to the government, saying they were determined to invade the North Eastern province and make it part of their country and rule it with their religious laws. Maingi said the abduction of several Kenyan citizens witnessed at the border town of Mandera was part of a wider scheme to force a reaction from the Kenyan government. The administrator expressed concerns at the increasing cases of locals acquiring small arms from the strife-torn country which, he said, could be used in such an attack. Maingi, however, said the government had put up measures to counter such an attack from the militia including deploying extra troops to man the expansive and porous Kenyan-Somali border and the disarmament of residents in the province. Speaking at Warable in Fafi district during a relief food distribution exercise, Maingi said it was unjustifiable for local people to keep demanding food rations from the government when they routinely exchanged their livestock for firearms with Somali militia at the porous border. Early this year, two people were killed when members of these two clans clashed over the ownership of a water pan and pastureland. Maingi issued an indefinite ultimatum for the local to surrender the firearms they had illegally acquired from Somalia, saying the government was committed to safeguarding its citizens by all means possible and no one would be allowed to own firearms illegally in the guise of protecting themselves.
some background

Somali Jihad threatening to cross the border into Kenya

Terrorist release 5 Kenyans...kenya government paid ransom money to terrorists .."Most Likely "

Italian nuns say Somali extremists kidnapped them

Islamist Terrorist Declares War against Kenyan troops

al shabaab command structure jubaland region,
MP Barre Aden Shire relatives’ house looted by Al-shabab Terrorist
Somali Islamist group threatens Kenya over maritime deal
Al-Shabab Terrorist destroys about 100 Indian graves in Kismayu
Somali group threatens to attack Kenya

Somali pirates seize Yemen oil tanker: Yemen official

SANAA (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized an empty Yemeni oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday and two pirates were killed in clashes as the Yemeni coast guard tried to free the vessel, a Yemeni government official said.The official said three pirates and two Yemeni coast guards were also wounded in the exchange and four of the estimated 16 Somali pirates were arrested.The tanker, Qana, can carry 3,000 tons but was not carrying a cargo when it was seized off the coast of the Arabian Peninsula country, the official told Reuters. The vessel has a 23-strong crew, of which three are Indian and the rest Yemenis.The pirates had seized three other vessels briefly before Yemeni forces freed them earlier on Sunday, the official said, adding that Yemeni forces were using helicopters to free the Qana, held about 10 miles off the port of Belhaf.Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia, is a small producer of oil and exports 200,000 barrels per day.Also on Sunday, an Italian ship used guns and a firehose to beat off an attack by pirates off the east African coast, the vessel's captain said.Pirates have increased raids on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, a key shipping lane for oil and cargo, since February. Better weather has allowed them to hijack more vessels and take more hostages despite foreign navies patrolling off the coast of Somalia...more..http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSLQ52492520090426?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Somali pirate attack was like 'war',Aussies under fire in pirate shoot-out

The captain of an Italian cruise ship carrying more than 1,500 people, including 74 Australians, whose Israeli security guards fought off marauding Somali pirates, said on Sunday the attack had felt like "war".

The cruise liner Melody continued its trip on Sunday toward the Jordanian port of Aqaba while Somali pirates seized a Yemeni oil tanker after a clash in which two raiders were killed, according to Yemeni authorities.Ciro Pinto, captain of the Melody, said one passenger and one crew member were injured by broken glass from windows shattered by gunfire as the pirates closed on the white-hulled vessel and opened fire late on Saturday."It was as if we were at war," Pinto told Italy's ANSA national news agency as he described the clash in which his ship - carrying 991 passengers and 536 crew - sustained smashed windows and bullet holes in the hull and a lifeboat.Six men on a speedboat and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles attacked the cruise ship, Pinto said."After four or five minutes, they tried to put a ladder on the bow," Pinto said.
However, security guards on the ship "opened fire, and when they saw we were shooting, they abandoned their effort and went away"...more..http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/806431/somali-pirate-attack-was-like-war

Aussies under fire in pirate shoot-out

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/26/2552933.htm?section=justin

Israeli guards fight off Somali pirates,Armed Israeli Guards Thwart PIrate Attack on Cruise Ship, BBC Glosses Over Fact,Israelis drive Somali pirates

Israeli private security guards on Saturday night thwarted an attack on anItalian cruise ship by Somali pirates. As the ship sailed far off the coast of Somalia, a small white boat carrying six heavily armed men approached and opened fire. The cruise ship's 1,000 passengers and 500 crew members immediately took cover, and the Israeli security team took over, returning heavy fire at the pirates.Stunned by the resistance, the pirates made a hasty retreat back to shore. It was one of the first pirate attacks in which a nonmilitary ship fought back.
The cruise line later released a statement saying it hired the Israelis because they are the best trained private security guards it could find. http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=18659
Armed Israeli Guards Thwart PIrate Attack on Cruise Ship, BBC Glosses Over Fact
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/04/26/israeli-armed-guards-thwart-pirate-attack-bbc-glosses-over-fact-story
Israelis drive Somali pirates away
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3706848,00.html

Bin Laden and Eritrea's Isayas Afewerki in Somalia

GHEBREHIWET IS ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL ERITREAN WRITERS TODAY. IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE, HE UNDERSCORES THE MAIN REASONS WHY OSAMA BIN LADEN AND ERITREA´S ISAYAS AFEWERKI ARE BOTH OPPOSED TO THE UN BACKED SOMALI GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESIDENT SHEIKH AHMED. Osama Bin Laden last month bombarded the world with one more of his incendiary web messages, but this time around it was entirely focused on Somalia, which tells us the extent to which he seems to have invested his hopes on that region to carry out his Islamic revolution. An analyst makes a similar point:"´I think people who were skeptical that al-Qaida has ambition in Somalia will now have to think twice´, Rashid Abdi, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank in Nairobi told The Associated Press." ("Bin Laden exhorts militants on web message", AP, march 19) In this message Bin Laden makes it clear that he is unhappy with the current leader of Somalia, the moderate Islamist President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and urges the radical Islamists, like Al Shebab, and the people of Somalia to overthrow him because he "changed to partner up with the infidel".Sheikh Ahmed has no partnership with the West, so that cannot be the reason why he has drawn this much ire from Bin Laden. There are two other reasons – one minor and one major – why Bin Laden is so much worried by the turn of events in Somalia. First, understandably, he would be unhappy if the kind of Taliban-like, fundamentalist Islam he champions doesn´t take roots in Somalia – a hope that could only materialize under the leadership of Al Shebab. But his major worry is that, if Sheikh Ahmed succeeds in uniting and stabilizing Somalia, the Islamist revolution will remain confined to that nation´s borders only, and that there will be no further interest or incentive for the Islamist revolution to spread outside that country. One of the main reasons why Islamic fundamentalism is inimical to the very concept of nationhood is because once a nation is built, it naturally works for its own self-interest and avoids any overt confrontation that might in turn destabilize it in a significant way. That is to say, once a nation is built, the interest of the state trumps the interest of the religion. That is why radical Islamists like Bin Laden pine for a return to a Caliphate, where the borders will be determined by the aspirations of the religion...more..http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/100147

Get pirates at their Somali roots and Somalia's anguish: Nation in ruins needs the world's help

They're not making pirates like they used to. I say that based on the lack of swashbuckling yo-ho-ho in the U.S. Navy's recent rescue of a captured U.S. merchant ship captain off the coast of Somalia. Snipers from the Navy SEALs killed three pirates from that war-torn east African country and a fourth was taken to New York City to await trial. In photos of his perp walk, the alleged pirate looked downright delighted to have had a free ride from Somalia to the Big Apple."He's just a kid," says Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), with a hint of fatherly sympathy. "This is a country that hasn't had schools for 17 years."Payne, chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa and a former head of the Congressional Black Caucus, knows a lot about Somalia. As the pirate drama wrapped up on the high seas, Payne came under a mortar attack as he was trying to fly out of the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia's bullet-ridden capital.Payne, whom the State Department had strongly discouraged from visiting Somalia because of the dangers, was not hurt, but 10 people were reported injured. "They're all kids," Payne said of the hapless quartet that held Capt. Richard Phillips for five days after boarding his ship, the Maersk Alabama. "This is what happens when all order in your country breaks down."In a chat with me in Washington, Payne offered a different version of the Somali pirates than most news accounts convey. Far from the Hollywood's high-seas Caribbean adventurers, today's Somali pirates resemble street gangsters on the high seas -- desperate young men trying to feed their families in a country that has not had much in the way of law, order, jobs, commerce or schools in almost two decades.Without much government, even fishing has been pillaged or plundered by big commercial fishers or environmental dumpers in Somalia's coastal waters.Following the lead of a few kingpins, pirate attacks have shot up in recent years. The encounter with an American ship, ironically carrying humanitarian aid to Kenya, and with our Navy, offers an example of how our attempts to ignore festering trouble spots like Somalia can come back to haunt us. Remember "Black Hawk Down"? The best-selling book and the movie recounted the shoot down of two Black Hawk helicopters in Somalia 16 years ago and the combat deaths of 18 U.S. troops. ..more..http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0426pageapr26,0,6380220.column
We Welcome everyone..opinion..even if we disagree with it .

Somalia's anguish: Nation in ruins needs the world's help
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/somalias_anguish_nation_in_rui.html

NATO Shipping Centre
http://www.shipping.nato.int/

Five killed after HAWIYE Terrorist Attacked AU peace keepers

MOGADISHU(TF.SF)--At least five civilians have been killed and ten others have been wounded after HawiyeIslamist Terrorist attacked the Burundian AU Peacekeepers troops from the African Union peace keepers based in Jalle Siad Academy in the Somali capital Mogadishu , witnesses said on Saturday. Witnesses confirmed that at least five civilians were killed after mortar landed on their house near the Burundian AU peacekeepers base. The two sides exchanged heavy gunfire and anti aircraft machine guns which many civilians who recently returned to the city expressed fear after bullets and mortars landed in heavily populated residential areas. Al-Shabaab Terrorist claimed the responsibility of the attack. There is no word from the AU peace keepers in Mogadishu yet
The clashes came as ten Ten people were killed and more than fifteen others were wounded on Saturday in mortar shells to a centre of the Somali parliament in Mogadishu fired by hawiye Terrorist rebels. The mortars missed their target and landed residential neighborhoods in the capital. Somali terrorist!.. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Jihad leader returned from two-year exile in Eritrea on Thursday and said they would attack the African Union troops in Mogadishu.

tourism somalia

http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com/2009/04/tourism-somalia.html

Captain Held by Pirates Thanks 'True American' Hometown at Vermont Event

JERICHO, Vt. — A U.S. cargo ship captain who spent five days as a hostage of Somali pirates gave thanks Saturday to his community for a hero's welcome a week after returning home.
Maersk Alabama skipper Richard Phillips addressed a crowd of about 500 people at a homecoming picnic in Jericho, Vermont, near Underhill, where Phillips lives.The 53-year-old mariner gave thanks to the U.S. military, his family, and his neighbors. He told the crowd: "This is a true American community, and a true caring for each other."
Phillips and his wife, Andrea, say they're grateful for the many letters of support they've received.The event featured live music from local bands, and Vermont's governor declared the day "Captain Richard Phillips Day."Click here for photos.Phillips will testify this week before a U.S. Senate committee about his ordeal. He's scheduled to speak on Thursday, according to the Burlington Free Press.Shane Murphy of Seekonk, Mass., the first mate on the Maersk Alabama ship, also will speak to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...more..http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517903,00.html

Somali pirates seize German vessel, free Greek ship,High-seas pirate tries to adjust to NY prison cell

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized a 31,000-tonne German grain carrier in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a Kenyan maritime official said.Pirates also released the Greek vessel, MV Saldanha, after they were paid $1.9 million in ransom, a pirate source said.
The Malta-flagged, German-owned MV Patriot belongs to Patriot Schiffahrts and is managed by Blumenthal JMK of Hamburg, Germany, said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme."I hear it was taken early this morning," he told Reuters. "It was hijacked in the eastern end of the Gulf of Aden."The ship's 17 crew members are unhurt, Mwangura said.The Foreign Ministry in Berlin could not confirm the German vessel had been seized but said it was investigating.A pirate told Reuters his comrades had also released a Greek ship but he could not give its name."My friends have released the Greek ship after $1.9 million ransom was paid," said the pirate, identified only as Hussein. Continued...
High-seas pirate tries to adjust to NY prison cell
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0RamKp6mQvrtRMiACUxlZNmPIfAD97P66VG0

Somali Pirates Form Unholy Alliance with Islamists

Warships have done little to deter Somalia's pirates. But following the latest spate of hijackings, the West plans to take a more robust approach to protecting shipping. Intelligence agencies are alarmed at the pirates' increasingly close ties to Islamist groups. A sack filled with $1 million (€770,000) in $100 bills weighs just under 15 kilos (33 pounds). Occasionally $3 million in ransom money is paid to Somali pirates for a hijacked freighter and its crew. That's nearly 45 kilos.
Delivering millions of dollars to the pirates is a hell of a job, says Jack Cloonan, a security expert from New York. "Remember, they're sitting there and they're all armed to the teeth," he says. "And you're sitting there in your rubber raft: 'Here's one for you, and one for you ... '"more..http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,620027,00.html
habar-gidir factional leader Terrorist Yusuf Mohamed Pirate Ransom Helped Somalia Islamist hawiye al-shabaab