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Human Rights
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 08:13 |
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HARGEISA, (insidesomalia.org) – Harir Omar Yusuf, about to finish high school, should be choosing a degree course and deciding on a career direction; instead, he spends most of his time planning a perilous escape from his hometown of Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in the northwest of Somalia, to Europe. “As soon as I finish high school I will go there, because I have nothing to stay for in Somaliland,” he told IRIN, adding that his parents could not afford university fees and he was not assured of a place even if they could. Yusuf has many friends who have made the journey – first through Ethiopia, then Sudan and Libya and finally to Italy via the Mediterranean Sea – and are now living as illegal immigrants in Italy and other European nations. He also has many friends languishing in Sudanese or Libyan jails, arrested for entering the country illegally, and knows of many who died making the trip, but he remains determined. Tens of thousands of Somalis also try to cross the Gulf of Aden into Yemen every year aboard small vessels run by people-traffickers operating from Somali ports; according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), one out of every 20 people attempting the journey in 2007 died. Yusuf says he would rather risk death than live a life of certain poverty in Somaliland. Unemployment “The issue of young people running away is very problematic in Somaliland,” said Omer Ali Abdi, the director of the youth department in the Ministry of Youth and Sports. “Year after year, graduates from secondary schools are increasing and our universities just don’t have the capacity to take in all of them – and even when they graduate from university, there is no guarantee they will get a job.” |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 07:38 |
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SIRTE, Libya - African leaders asked the United Nations on Friday to impose sanctions on Eritrea, saying it was aiding the Islamist rebels fighting government forces in nearby Somalia.
But the African Union, at a summit in Libya, did not adopt a proposed resolution to give African Union peacekeepers in Somalia a mandate to do more than just defend themselves from rebel attacks.
In the third day of heavy fighting in the north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, at least 16 people were killed and 30 were wounded, according to hospital officials, taking the death toll since Wednesday to more than 50.
The United Nations, Somalia's government and other groups accuse Eritrea of sending weapons and providing training for the insurgents. Eritrean officials deny that.
The 53-member African Union, meeting in the Libyan city of Sirte, adopted a resolution condemning insurgent attacks in Somalia and backing the government.
The resolution said the Union "issues an appeal to the United Nations Security Council ... to impose sanctions on all outside actors, either in the region or beyond, in particular Eritrea, which provide support to armed groups."
It also asked the UN to impose a sea blockade and no-fly zone to stop weapons and other supplies reaching the rebels. |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 06:51 |
 Al-Shabab fighters control much of southern Somalia Southern Somalia is a dangerously unpredictable place. We flew into the region, unsure what reception we could expect from the commanders of al-Shabab, the radical Islamist insurgent group, viewed by some as al-Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa. Our plan was to stay overnight in a town called Wajid - until we learned that al-Shabab had just publicly beheaded three men in the area and shot dead a community leader. We changed our schedule fast. We were travelling with the United Nation's World Food Programme, which, despite operating in one of the world's most dangerous environments, is managing to feed some 3.5 million Somalis. "It is very, very difficult," said WFP's deputy country director Denise Brown. |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 06:45 |
 | | Islamic fighters shoot towards Somali government forces during clashes, in the capital Mogadishu, 03 Jul 2009 |
Militants fighting to overthrow Somalia's U.N.-backed government have condemned talks at the African Union summit in Libya, where African leaders are considering giving the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia a stronger mandate to pursue and fight the insurgents.
A spokesman for Somalia's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab militant group, Ali Mohamed Rage warned Friday that any attempts to expand the current mandate of the African Union peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM, would be met with violent resistance.
Rage says the summit in Libya is being held to change the mandate of AMISOM troops, so that they can destroy more Somali homes and kill more civilians.
The al-Shabab spokesman was alluding to charges made by Somalis and international human rights groups, accusing AMISOM of sometimes firing their weapons indiscriminately in response to insurgent attacks and killing civilians. AMISOM has denied any wrongdoing.
Since Ethiopia ended its occupation of Somalia in January, al-Shabab has focused its guerrilla war on AMISOM and the Somali government under moderate Islamist leader Sharif Sheik Ahmed. Al-Shabab and another militant group called Hisbul Islam have rejected President Sharif's call for reconciliation and have vowed to overthrow the government.
Since early May, near-daily fighting between government forces and rebels in Mogadishu has killed more than 300 people and has uprooted more than 170,000. Last month, the government urged neighboring countries to send troops to Somalia to defend against Somali extremists and foreign allies pouring into the country. |
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Friday, 03 July 2009 13:16 |
 The radical Islamist al-Shabab are accused of links to al-Qaeda | An Islamist commander in Somalia has told the BBC there has been an influx of fighters from overseas joining their battle against the interim government. The al-Shabab militant leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several hundred foreigners had joined their militia, many from Pakistan. Meanwhile, at least 25 people have been killed in fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, over the past two days. Africa Union leaders meeting in Libya are due to discuss Somalia later. There have been calls for the AU to boost its force of some 4,000 peacekeepers based in Mogadishu. The BBC's Andrew Harding, in Buale in the south, says an al-Shabab commander confirmed foreign fighters were among his ranks. The radical al-Shabab Islamists, who are accused of links to al-Qaeda, already control much of the south of the country. |
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Friday, 03 July 2009 08:59 |
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St. Paul, Minn. — Somali-Americans in Minnesota will protest a rash of suicide bombings in their homeland at a rally Friday in Minneapolis.
Somalia has been at civil war for the past two decades, but suicide attacks began to surface only recently. Last month, the radical Islamic group Al-Shabaab struck again, killing a number of Somali government officials and tribal leaders.
Federal authorities think Shirwa Ahmed of Minneapolis, a U.S. citizen, was responsible for a suicide bombing last fall.
Some Somali-Americans worry that the bombings will take hold of their home country like an incurable cancer.
But Ato Shaair, who is organizing the Minneapolis rally, is one of the hopeful. Shaair says Somalis won't stand for terrorism.
"A lot of people are saying enough is enough. We've got to stop this. This cannot continue," Shaair said. "The anguish and the suffering is unacceptable. I think the community and Somalis all over the world will reject this ideology." |
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