European Governments Should Resettle Guantanamo Detainees via
(Berlin, November 10, 2008) - European governments should provide humanitarian protection to those Guantanamo detainees who will not be charged with a crime but cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of torture or other serious human rights violations, five leading human rights organizations said today.
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SOMALIA: Press Release; UN Political Office via Ainashe.net
PRESS RELEASE 0020/2008
Nairobi, 13 August 2008 – The United Nations Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he was very pleased that the two main Committees in the Djibouti Agreement are being convened this weekend. After consultations with the Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, it was agreed that the Joint Security Committee (Article 8.) and the High Level Committee (Article 9) will meet in Djibouti from 16 – 18 August.
The two sides will have delegations attending each meeting. The Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein as well as the leaders of the ARS, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan plan to attend.
The international community, including diplomats from several countries and regional...
SOMALIA: Ethiopian Soldiers Killed in Mogadishu via Ainashe.net
The London based Iranian Press TV reports:
Four Ethiopian soldiers were killed in heavy clashes with the Union of Islamic Court (UIC) fighters north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. A Press TV correspondent, reporting from Mogadishu, says the fighting between the Ethiopian troops and the UIC fighters is ongoing in the Industrial Street. According to an eye-witness at least six mortars landed in the Pasta Base in north Mogadishu killing 4 Ethiopian soldiers and injuring several others. In a telephone interview with Press TV the UIC spokesman, Abdirahim Isse Addow, confirmed that the UIC has launched two strong attacks on Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers. Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. In 2006,...
SOMALIA: TFG Troops under Fire in Mogadishu via Ainashe.net
TFG troops supporting the continuation of the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia came under heavy fire in north Mogadishu as the country is thrown more into anarchy at the cost of more civilian lives.
Click here to view the full dispatch by the Press TV.
Click here for further news dispatches from......
SOMALIA: Indiscriminate Shelling Kills Children via Ainashe.net
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ “Situation Reports” (No. 30, 01 Aug 2008):
More than 150 children have been killed or injured through indiscriminate shelling, bombings and crossfire in the past year. In a press statement issued on 31 July, Christian Balslev-Olesen, UNICEF Representative to Somalia, said, ‘the current environment of conflict, displacement and insecurity in Southern and Central Somalia has a serious negative impact on children’s and young people’s long-term psychosocial welfare and health development.’ During the reporting week alone, seven children died in the ongoing battles in Mogadishu - five as they were fleeing from school and two while they were playing football on a public pitch....
SOMALIA: Ethiopians Bomb Homes & Kill Civilians via Ainashe.net
The Missionary International Service News Agency reports:
At least 10 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed after an Ethiopian attack in a northeastern quarter of Mogadishu. Witnesses said that 12 other people were wounded after a mortar shell exploded near a group of 40 civilians that were looking for refuge behind the home. Last night the nearby military base in Hurwa quarter was attacked. Today’s victims add to the nine from night in Mogadishu as fighting continued between armed militias and Ethiopian troops, backing the Somali transition government, which has been often denounced by human rights groups and by Somalis themselves of carrying out veritable reprisals against the population.
I think it is time to file war crimes case at the International Criminal...
SOMALIA: Ethiopian shelling kills 10 via Ainashe.net
The Associated Press reports:
Mortar shells slammed into a residential area in Somalia’s capital, killing at least 10 people — including a mother and her child, witnesses and a hospital official said Tuesday.
The bloodshed Monday came as Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s shaky government battled Islamic insurgents who have been fighting an Iraq-style guerrilla war for more than a year. Thousands of civilians have been killed.
“There were 40 of us gathered under a wall to shield us from the mortars, but one landed near us,” Mogadishu resident Shamsa Kheyre told The Associated Press from her hospital bed.
Kheyre said she saw six bodies — including a mother and her young son. Another resident, Shekhey Nur Ahmed, said he and his friends collected the bodies of...
New Issues of EJML, FMR, Govt. & Opposition, RSQ via Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog
European Journal of Migration and the Law, vol. 10, no. 1 (2008) [contents]
- Articles address different aspects of the war on terrorism.
Forced Migration Review, no. 30 (April 2008) [full-text]
- Theme of this issue is "Burma's Displaced People."
Government and Opposition, vol. 43, no. 2 (Spring 2008) [contents]
- Special issue on the "Refugee in Trans/national Politics and Society:...
Bhutto, in a nutshell via Jackfruity
From Ahmed Rashid's column in today's Washington Post:In recent weeks, she had publicly taken on the Taliban extremists — something Musharraf has not dared to do, despite all his bluster and bonhomie with President Bush since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. With Bhutto gone, there is no one who can play such a role.Plain and simple, folks.Update: But which book?Coming Anarchy found an article from Hindustan Times that claims, "In 2002, [Bhutto] sent a book by Robert D Kaplan [to Indian Opposition Leader LK Advani] as a gift, writing a note saying she thought of him when she saw the book."I must...
Terrorist Baseball Cards via NGO Security
Collecting baseball cards used to be a popular pastime of boys growing up in the United States. And in keeping with that tradition, the U.S. Department of Defense has issued a collection of Terrorist Recognition Cards. Click on a region to see who's who (complete with stats) and who's...
SOMALIA: “Islamist Insurgency Grows” via CRISIS IN SOMALIA
Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent of the Guardian News paper writes:
The Islamist-led resistance in Somalia is growing in scale and aggression, with insurgents openly taking on Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu, in fighting that has killed dozens, possibly hundreds, in the past three weeks.
Mr. Rice went on saying:
Few people believe that the situation is about to get better. Several experts interviewed by the Guardian say that the insurgents are becoming more powerful. A military analyst and a western diplomat to Somalia, neither of whom wished to be named, warned that the angry mood and conditions that allowed an Islamist movement to defeat a gang of warlords and take power in Mogadishu last year were returning. “We are on a merry-go-round...
SOMALIA: “The Hell That Must Not Be Ignored” via CRISIS IN SOMALIA
Anna Husarska of the International Rescue Committee says:
Somalia’s internal conflict is propelled by a combustible mix of religion, politics and clan rivalry. Civilians are killed daily in Mogadishu, there are roadside bombs and mortar attacks, and politicians and journalists are targeted. Making matters worse, the country has suffered this year from both floods and drought. This combination of insecurity and natural disasters has displaced huge numbers of people and caused suffering on a scale painful to behold. According to the most recent UN figures, 400,000 people, or roughly one-third of Mogadishu’s population, have fled the city.
She continued by saying:
Yet Somalia still rarely gets into the headlines. This partly reflects the near impossibility of gathering news. Few...
SOMALIA: “Ethiopian strife tests US commitment” via Ainashe.net
The Guardian newspaper reports:
Rising tensions in the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, combined with chronic instability in neighbouring Somalia, Eritrean enmity, and human rights concerns, are testing US support for the Addis Ababa government led by Clinton-era good governance pin-up Meles Zenawi.
The paper continued by saying:
Keeping a firm hand on ethnically Somali, Muslim Ogaden, the scene of a cold war-era proxy conflict, is a long-standing US objective.
The paper continued by saying:
Eritrea, its bitter border dispute with Ethiopia still simmering, is shipping “huge quantities of arms” to insurgents in Somalia, according to a UN report. Concerns about a spreading humanitarian and refugee emergency grow, even as international aid targets undershoot. And now, far from...
ETHIOPIAN INVASION: Opinion of Arab & Islamic Press via Long Live SOMALIA!
Leoul Mekonen, Sudan Tribune
It is clear that the Somali Islamists are enemies to the US but arming and supporting a dictatorial regime with the notion of supporting the enemy’s enemy will not bring positive outcome to the US as well as Ethiopians… It is lunatic to think that the Ethiopian army will crush the Islamists. Instead it will raise the patriotic spirit of Somalis and even those who have had negative attitude towards Islamists will prefer to join them. Any Somali who hates the Islamists will not necessarily like the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia but be compelled to join the jihadists when their airport is bombed by Ethiopian aircraft.
Samuel Makinda, Kenya’s Nation
Ethiopia’s invasion is unlikely to bring peace and order to Somalia, or to assist...
Assault on Somalia: Kenya will Mediate via Long Live SOMALIA!
The South African News 24 reports:
Kenya plans to hold talks with Somalia’s embattled Islamic leaders in a bid to end escalating fighting with Ethiopian forces backing government, said diplomats on Wednesday. The talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday “will seek ways to urgently end the conflict”, said a diplomat, requesting to remain anonymous. The diplomat said that the Islamic courts leadership has confirmed participation. Asked if Ethiopia and the Somali government would participate in the talks, the diplomat said: “We will deal with only those whom we can manage.”
Click here to view the full dispatch....
Ethiopian Troops to Besiege Mogadishu via Long Live SOMALIA!
The Gulf News reports:
As Arab efforts to stop the war intensified, the UAE yesterday called on Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia. The appeal was made by Mohammad Hussain Al Sha’ali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, during a meeting in Abu Dhabi with Mahmoud Ahmad Jaz, an envoy of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who delivered a message to President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Voicing the UAE’s concern over armed hostilities in Somalia, Al Sha’ali urged Addis Ababa to “halt this war” and called for “the withdrawal of foreign forces from Somalia,” WAM reported. He urged Somalia’s neighbours to “encourage reconciliation among Somali factions”.
Click here to view the full......
EU Presidency Issues Statement on Somalia via Long Live SOMALIA!
Click here to view the full dispatch on Xinhuanet (The Chinese News Agency).
You may also click here to view the full......
ETHIOPIAN INVASION: Death and Destruction in Somalia via Long Live SOMALIA!
The Norwegian Newspaper; Dagbladet has a long analytical report.
Click here to view the full report. Please note that the article in Norwegian only. Please also note that graphic picture on......
Afwerki: We Have no Troops in Somalia via Long Live SOMALIA!
In an interview he gave to Al-Jezeera Television yesterday, President Isaias Afwerki reiterated that Eritrea did not send troops to Somalia.
Click here to view the full article on......
SOMALIA: “Zenawi uses ‘war’ as ploy” via Long Live SOMALIA!
Stephanie McCrummen of the Washington Post Foreign Service writes:
War or no war with Somalia, Mulunesh Abebayhu wants out. Out of her teaching job, where Ethiopian security forces constantly harass her because of her political views. Out of this city, where hundreds of protesters were killed by police bullets after disputed elections last year. And, if she can manage, out of this country that she believes has plunged into the abyss of dictatorship at the hands of its prime minister, Meles Zenawi, a staunch ally of the United States in the vulnerable Horn of Africa.
“He confuses the Westerners so that he can keep ruling,” said Abebayhu, 54, an opposition member arrested along with an estimated 30,000 others in the sweeping post-election crackdown last year. “Our party...
ETHIOPIAN INVASION: Air Assault on Mogadishu via Ainashe.net
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The aerial and ground assault was the first open admission by Ethiopia’s Christian-led government of its military operations in Somalia, where it has been supporting a weak interim government threatened by forces loyal to the Islamic clerics who control the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the rest of the country.
Click here to view the full......
ETHIOPIAN INVASION: Zenawi Made it Official! via Ainashe.net
Melez Zenawi the Ethiopian Prime Minister made it clear to everyone that he wants Somalia annexed by forces.
Mr. Zenawi was quoted as saying that:
Our patience was considered as weakness and we were forced to go to war and the alternative left to us is to speedily bring the war to a successful and victorious end in the shortest time possible.
Well, this sounds like a twisted logic! Somalia did not invade Ethiopia....
ETHIOPIAN INVASION: “Leave Somalia Alone!” via Ainashe.net
In an editorial the Dubai based Khaleej Times newspaper says:
WITH Ethiopian military incursions into the Somalian territory, in the name of fighting Islamic militants, the situation in the Horn of Africa is getting increasingly dangerous. Regional peace is under serious threat. And it looks like Somalia, one of the hotspots of the continent, would now be used for a proxy war between largely-Christian Ethiopia and its bitter rival, Eritrea, a nation that backs the Islamists.
The paper continued by saying:
Ethiopian incursions are now undermining these efforts. Amid the rolling in of the Ethiopian tanks and the air strikes that followed, the bitter memories of the past two wars have come to haunt the people. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s stand that his government has a ‘legal and moral...
SOMALIA: Gov’t Forces Defects by Their Hundreds via Ainashe.net
The Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper reports:
Nearly 200 troops serving Somalia’s weak Western-backed government defected to the Islamic courts movement, an Islamic official said Sunday, as both sides braced for impending war. Sheik Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, head of the Islamic court in the Al-Bayan region, said the troops switched sides there late Saturday. Sheik Bilal told the Associated Press by telephone that the former government soldiers “are ready to be incorporated into the Islamic courts forces.” The court movement has promised to launch a holy war Tuesday unless troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, who are supporting the government, leave Somalia. Islamic fighters have surrounded the southern Sudanese town of Baidoa, the only town the government controls. Al-Bayan, where...
SOMALIA: EU Concerned On the Pending War via Ainashe.net
In a statement released on Saturday, Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid said:
I call upon all parties to refrain from engaging in a war that cannot be won by anyone. The spoilers and warmongers of all sorts that seek conflict in order to prevail militarily are fooling themselves as well as the Somali people.
Mr. Michel went on by saying:
A new war in Somalia will have tragic consequences not just for the people of Somalia but for the whole region and beyond. We simply cannot afford to see what is going to happen.
Click here to view the full by the Chinese news agency-Xinhua....
Transcript of Meles Zenawi’s Interview via Ainashe.net
Click here to view a full transcript of interview with Melez Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime......
“Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa” via Ainashe.net
Terrence Lyons of the Center for Preventive Action wrote a report titled: “Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: U.S. Policy toward Ethiopia and Eritrea”.
The entire report (PFD format) can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here....
ARAB WORLD: “Yemen brokers deal for Somalia” via Ainashe.net
The Pan-Arab Al Jezeera television network reports:
Leader of Somalia’s Islamic Courts militia and the influential parliament speaker said on Saturday that they had agreed at talks in Yemen to turn to dialogue between the Islamists and the government to resolve differences.” The Islamic Courts are committed to dialogue with the interim federal Somali government as a way of resolving differences … and stopping any moves conducive to military confrontations by any side,” speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said in a joint statement. The statement was issued after three days of talks in the southern port city of Aden under the auspices of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president. It said the two sides would resume dialogue to reach a political...
SOMALIA: “Proxy War in Africa’s Horn” via Ainashe.net
Stephanie Hanson of the US Council of Foreign Relations writes:
In the disputed border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea, tensions have been high all year but neither side appears willing to break the stalemate. Instead, both countries have been amassing troops in neighboring Somalia in what appears to be a proxy war. The build-up threatens to tip the entire Horn of Africa into a regional war (CSMonitor). Such a conflict appears increasingly imminent: this week Somalia’s Islamists threatened they’ll attack (BBC) if Ethiopian troops don’t leave within seven days. Ethiopia—a Christian nation with a significant Muslim population—sent troops into Somalia in support of the country’s weak, but internationally recognized, transitional government. Since the Islamists’ seizure of...