SomalilandPress

SOMALILAND: NEC to issue new voter identification cards

HARGEISA (Somalilandpress) — The National Electoral Commission (NEC) said they are deploying new voter ID cards as part of their preparation of the up-coming presidential elections this year on Tuesday. In a press conference held at their headquarters, NEC spokesman, Mr Ahmed Hirsi Geele said after consultations with the three political parties and donors, it has [...]

Is East Africa the Next Frontier for Oil?

NAIROBI (Somalilandpress) — According to local lore, Portuguese travelers as far back as the late 19th century suspected oil might lie beneath parts of East Africa after noticing a thick, greasy sediment wash up on the shores of Mozambique. More interested in finding cheap labor, though, the explorers had little use for oil. A century on, [...]

Israel Partnering in Africa Against Terror

TEL-AVIV (Somalilandpress) — Israel is increasing its partnership in Africa, united with factions which are battling fundamentalist Islam. Following February talks between Israel and the Kenyan government in which the African country requested Israeli assistance in fighting terror, Israel and Kenya may form a joint force to guard against the entry of terrorists through the northern [...]

Somalia Food Aid Bypasses Needy, U.N. Study Finds

As much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted from needy people to a web of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local United Nations staff members, according to a new Security Council report. Sacks of food in a warehouse in Mogadishu. A United Nations report suggests an overhaul in the food distribution [...]

South Africa slams Israel over heritage site annex

PRETORIA (Somalilandpress) — South Africa’s response to Israel’s decision to declare the cave of the Patriachs and Rachel’s tomb in the West Bank to be National Heritage sites. The South African Government has noted with concern Israel’s decision to declare the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem in the West Bank [...]

Israel Eyes New Alliances In Africa

Tel-Aviv, 9 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Israel is struggling to keep its diplomatic friends in Africa as Iran makes a determined effort to expand its influence there, making the continent an emerging theater in the Iran-Israel confrontation. But these days the Jewish state has a new ally, Kenya, which wants Israeli help to fight the growing [...]

SOMALILAND: A Walk Through International Women’s Day

HARGEISA, 9 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – The news and events of the last two months have been harsh, with earthquakes ravaging whole cities, and families and children suffering. SOS Children’s Villages continues to respond to these situations in force, while also taking a moment too reflect on women, mothers and girls around the world. Please [...]

Foreign officials suspected of rights abuses should be deported

WASHINGTON (Somalilandpress) — IN THE SUMMER of 1988, Aziz Deria had left Somalia and was living in the United States when he heard the horrible news: His father, Mohamed, and brother, Mustafa, had apparently been dragged from their home and murdered by Somali soldiers intent on killing members of the Isaaq clan. Mr. Deria, now a [...]

US Firm Urges Affordable Internet Access for East Africa

NAIROBI (Somalilandpress) — A U.S.-based organization that promotes the use of the Internet is urging leaders in east Africa to make the Internet accessible and affordable to all of their citizens. The leaders are gathering in Nairobi for a regional summit due to begin Tuesday. The Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned [...]

University of Virginia Law Students Back Victim’s Right to Sue Former Somali Leader

WASHINGTON (Somalilandpress) — Law students in the University of Virginia’s International Human Rights Clinic have contributed to a Supreme Court amicus brief submitted by several congressional leaders that supports the right to sue former government officials for acts of torture. “The clinic is integrally involved in important cases that are going all the way to the [...]

DANGEROUS FRONTIERS: Campaigning in Somaliland and Oman

In Part 1 of his book the author describes his life as a young officer in the Somaliland Scouts in the (then) British Protectorate of Somaliland. At that time tribal quarrels, generally over water, were taking place in the troubled strip of country between the Protectorate and Ethiopia; the Ogaden. It was the Scouts’ difficult [...]

SOMALIA: Poverty Pushes Bosasso Children On To Streets

BOSASSO, (Somalilandpress) — A long civil war, frequent droughts, unemployment and high food prices have led to an increase in the number of street children in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, with NGOs and government officials calling for urgent steps to resolve the problem. “In the past, most of the [...]

Man charged with assisting terror group in Somalia

Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed awaited an initial court appearance Monday in federal court in Manhattan after an indictment against him was unsealed.

CANADA: Islamic School Is On ‘A Mission’

OTTAWA (Somalilandpress) — It’s 10 a.m., and the bell for morning recess rings at Abraar School. Students don their winter coats and boots before heading out onto the sunny playground at the Bayshore-area elementary school. As they pass principal Moussa Ouarou in the hall, they call him “Brother Moussa” and offer a polite Arabic greeting: Salaam alaikum [...]

Iran Calls for Regular Multilateral Meetings on Somali Crisis

Nairobi, 8 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – Somalia, Kenya and members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) welcomed Iran’s proposal for attending regular meetings to solve the crisis in Somalia. According to the proposal, raised by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, was endorsed at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Kenya and Somali [...]

SOMALILAND: SomTel Officially Launches Operations

HARGEISA (SomalilandPress) — Dahabshiil’s SomTel International launched services on Saturday as Somaliland’s sixth mobile phone and internet operator. SomTel International, which is expected to play a major role in the telecom sector of Somaliland has been the talk of the country in the last few months because of its parent company Dahabshiil, the largest remittance [...]

SOMALILAND: Edna at Women in the World Summit

Edna Adan will visit New York City next weekend to participate in the Daily Beast’s Women in the World Summit and she will appear on one of the panels. The following is from Tina Brown, editor of The Daily Beast Now, I’m thrilled to announce The Daily Beast will be producing a compelling live event that [...]

Canadian warship on Counter-terrorism Mission Near Yemen

In the massive expanse of water known as the Arabian Sea, a Canadian navy frigate from Halifax is on patrol. Part of an international coalition working in the waters off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, HMCS Fredericton is patrolling near the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman on a counter-terrorism and security mission. The [...]

‘Somaliland Can Not Be Recognized As an Independent State’ – TFG

Mogadishu, 7 March 2010 (Somalilandpress) – The authorities of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia have said that the breakaway republic of Somaliland can not be recognized as an independent state, just as Israel said recently it gave identification to Somaliland administration, officials told Shabelle radio on Thursday. Abdiwahid Abdi Gonjeh, the deputy prime minister of [...]

How food and water are driving a 21st-century African land grab

We turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia’s largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 [...]