Africa Oil Corp new release: Africa Oil Provides Update on Puntland
Africa Oil Corp. ... is pleased to announce that Africa Oil, together with Range Resource Ltd. and Lion Energy Corp., its joint venture partners, has entered into amending agreements with the Government of Puntland, represented by the Puntland Petroleum and Mineral Agency, in respect of the production sharing agreements ("PSAs") for the Dharoor Valley Exploration Area and the Nugaal Valley Exploration Area. Under the PSAs, as amended, the First Exploration Agreement has been extended for a further 12 months, from January 17, 2011 to January 17, 2012.-- -- --
Under the amended PSAs Africa Oil is obligated to spud a minimum of one exploratory well in the Dharoor Valley Exploration Area by July 27, 2011. A second exploratory well is required to be spudded in the Nugaal Valley Exploration Area or, at the option of Africa Oil, in the Dharoor Valley Exploration Area, by September 27, 2011.
In addition, the proposed farmout to Red Emperor of a 20% interest in each of the PSAs, previously announced on June 15, 2010, has been approved by the Government. Under the Red Emperor farmout Red Emperor is committed to pay a disproportionate share of the costs related to Africa Oil's drilling commitments in the First Exploration Period.
Keith Hill, President and CEO of Africa Oil commented on these developments as follows: "We look forward to the upcoming wells in the rift basins of Puntland which we believe could hold similar potential to the geologically related basins in Yemen which contain more than 6 billion barrels of discovered reserves. We appreciate the cooperation and efforts from the government in granting this extension and are in advanced negotiations with a drilling contractor to meet these obligations. We also would like to welcome our new partner Red Emperor to the joint venture."
Shabelle Media: AMISOM, Al shabaab exchange mortars in Mogadishu
At least 4 people have been killed and 14 others wounded after African union peacekeepers and Al shabaab fighters have exchanged mortars in the Somalia’s Mogadishu city, witnesses said.
The shelling is said to have started as Somali parliament meeting was taking place in Mogadishu and Al shabaab has pounded several salvos on the Somali parliament building, according locals.
In response, AMISOM forces have shelled in the neighborhoods of Wardhigle and Howlwadag in Benadir region.
AllVoices: Deadly shelling kills more than 10 in Mogadishu
More than 10 people have been killed and many others wounded in the Somali capital Mogadishu after heavy shelling landed into more areas around Bakara market in the Somalia capital after rivals exchanged heavy gunfire on Monday afternoon, officials.
The emergency traffic officials confirmed that they took 19 wounded civilians from different areas in the capital mainly Bakara, the biggest market in Mogadishu while more others seen as dead bodies after mortar shells targeted to there.
Most of the wounded people were civilians and rushed to Medina hospital in south according to health officials adding that the mortars were a response to several shell fires landed around Golaha Shabiga, the centre of the transitional parliamentarians in Mogadishu.
Mareeg Online: Heavy shells kill 30 people, injury 60 others in Mogadishu
At least 30 people were killed and 60 others wounded after the Islamist militias of Al-shabab and the African union peacekeeping forces exchanged heavy shells in the capital Mogadishu late this afternoon, reports said.-- -- --
Major of the casualties occurred in the big markets in Mogadishu Siiney and Bakaara markets between warring sides in the capital Mogadishu killing over 30 people and injuring 60 others mostly civilians, eyewitnesses told Mareeg this evening.
In a single shelling that fell into Ir-tokte of Bakara market killed 10 people and injured 20 others, said eyewitness told Mareeg adding that he walked from Bakara market on foot till Dhankenlay district, south the capital.
The bombardment came as the Islamist insurgents attacked parliament house with mortar shells and the AMIOSOM forces answered with continuous shelling that lasted several hours, reports said.
Shabelle Media: SKA imports equipments to develop Mogadishu airport services
Dubai based SKA air and logistics, which has ten year Mogadishu airport management agreement with the transitional federal government of Somalia, on Monday displayed new and modern equipments intended to develop the services of Adan Adde international air port in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu.-- -- --
These new tools and equipments which SKA private company brought in the country particularly Mogadishu’s Adan Adde airport are said to intended to serve for people departing from the airport and those who are landing in. Also the tools will be used carrying heavy cargoes.
David T. SKA’s acting head of Somalia, told Shabelle Media Network that those new and modern equipments are the part aimed at working inside the airport, spelling out some of world nations haven’t such new and modern equipments.
Mr. David T. added that a ship loaded with new equipments and tools owned by SKA is in port in Oman, pointing out that the sip will dock at Mogadishu international seaport in the days to come.
UNPOS press release: Somali Government strengthening its Security Sector with the aid of Japan and UN partners
Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, today thanked the Government of Japan, UN partners and regional organizations for their support to the Transitional Federal Government at an inauguration ceremony for the training of 500 Somali police recruits. Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti, were also in attendance for the event which took place at the Djibouti Police Academy.-- -- --
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He expressed his gratitude to the Government of Japan for “its significant contribution of 10 million dollars to the UNPOS Trust Fund for security sector institutions, without which this new project and training would not have been possible.”
In addition to providing stipends and salary for six months, funding from the Japanese-sponsored UNPOS Police project is helping to meet the cost of equipment such as specialized police vehicles, communications equipment and the reconstruction and rehabilitation of police infrastructure in Mogadishu.
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He said that UNPOS will continue to step up efforts to mobilize resources to pay the Somali security forces..
More from Farmajo's propaganda war
LA STAMPA/Worldcrunch: “Like Afghanistan Without Nato.” From Somalia’s New Prime Minister, A Cry For Help And A Warning
In an exclusive interview, the US-educated African leader says Islamic terrorists are flocking to his country. And preparing to strike the West.-- -- --
Three months after leaving behind a comfortable academic life in the United States to become Prime Minister of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has a chilling assessment of the state of affairs of his native land. “Somalia is like Afganistan. But the one difference is that NATO is in Afghanistan, and all the terrorists who have fled Kabul are now here.”
Speaking with La Stampa, Mohamed sent a clear warning call to the West. In Somalia, Islamic terrorists “have found a safe haven from which they can strike New York, or Milan. The international community must understand this and act on it soonest, and Italy should take the lead.”
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Speaking on the eve of a trip that took him to New York to seek the help of the U.N. Security Council, Mohamed said he has also sought a meeting with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, or the foreign minister, Franco Frattini. So far he has received no reply. U.S. Ambassador to Rome David Thorne said in an interview with La Stampa days ago that, according to the CIA, Rome can play a significant role in the Horn of Africa region. But Somalia wants more from its former colonial rulers: it wants Italy to take charge of saving Somalia like other ex-colonial powers have done elsewhere in Africa.
La Stampa: Mr. Prime Minister, how did a U.S. political science professor become the head of the Somali government?
Farmajo: I’ve always been engaged in and worried about the future of my country, even though I left it 25 years ago. Many ex-pats like myself have thought this was the time to come back, to prevent Somalia from ending up in the hands of religious extremists.
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The terrorists are coming by the thousands as they perceive Somalia to be the world’s weak link.
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La Stampa: What can Italy do?
Farmajo: Italians are a great people, and we share much history. We are greatly appreciative of what Italy has done in the past, but it can and must do much more. It has both the resources and the skills to intervene directly, the same way that other colonial powers have done in other parts of Africa: I’m thinking about the U.S., France or Great Britain and what happened in Liberia, the Ivory Coast, Chad or Kenya. We expect direct help from the Italian government, or that Italy takes the lead in Europe to allow for financial intervention and the deployment of experts and military forces.
La Stampa: If your government fails, what destiny awaits Somalia?
Farmajo: It will become a threat to the whole of mankind.
Second report of boots on the ground in less than a week
Daily Nation: Marines ‘land near Somali town’
Reports emanating from Central Somalia yesterday indicate that a unit of United States forces descended in an area called Gaan, 18 kilometres north of Haradhere, a former base of the notorious Somali pirates and a current stronghold of Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist movement opposing the government.-- -- --
The marines are said to have used a helicopter to reach the remote location.
According to Shabelle, a broadcaster in Mogadishu, five armed soldiers descended from the chopper and immediately handcuffed three Somali youth that were next to a vehicle being repaired following a breakdown.
Mohamed Bashir Mohamed told Shabelle that he was one of the three men flown by the American marines to a navy ship, off the coast. According to Bashir’s tale, the Americans kept the Somali men on a large ship for three hours and asked them whether they were pirates.
Having responded that they were not pirates, they were asked other questions such as where the pirates spend when they receive ransom money and who controlled the nearby Haradhere town.
He said that they responded knowing that Al-Shabaab controls the district, but nothing about pirates’ money.
The group was told that the American marines had their photos and that they were wanted men.
The Africa Confidential report last month, New Guns on the Block, stated that Saracen Int'l was using the (former) Blackwater ship, MV Eaton, but now...
NYT: Blackwater Founder Said to Back Mercenaries
Erik Prince, the founder of the international security giant Blackwater Worldwide, is backing an effort by a controversial South African mercenary firm to insert itself into Somalia’s bloody civil war by protecting government leaders, training Somali troops, and battling pirates and Islamic militants there, according to American and Western officials.
The disclosure comes as Mr. Prince sells off his interest in the company he built into a behemoth with billions of dollars in American government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, work that mired him in lawsuits and investigations amid reports of reckless behavior by his operatives, including causing the deaths of civilians in Iraq. His efforts to wade into the chaos of Somalia appear to be Mr. Prince’s latest endeavor to remain at the center of a campaign against Islamic radicalism in some of the world’s most war-ravaged corners. Mr. Prince moved to the United Arab Emirates late last year.
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Mr. Prince’s precise role remains unclear. Some Western officials said that it was possible Mr. Prince was using his international contacts to help broker a deal between Saracen executives and officials from the United Arab Emirates, which have been financing Saracen in Somalia because Emirates business operations have been threatened by Somali pirates.
According to a report by the African Union, an organization of African states, Mr. Prince provided initial financing for a project by Saracen to win contracts with Somalia’s embattled government.
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According to a Jan. 12 confidential report by the African Union, Mr. Prince “is at the top of the management chain of Saracen and provided seed money for the Saracen contract.” A Western official working in Somalia said he believed that it was Mr. Prince who first raised the idea of the Saracen contract with members of the Emirates’s ruling families, with whom he has a close relationship.
Two former American officials are helping broker the delicate negotiations between the Somali government, Saracen and the Emirates.
The officials, Pierre-Richard Prosper, a former United States ambassador at large for war crimes, and Michael Shanklin, a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Mogadishu, are both serving as advisers to the Somali government, according to people involved in the project. Both Mr. Prosper and Mr. Shanklin are apparently being paid by the United Arab Emirates.
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In an interview in the November issue of Men’s Journal, Mr. Prince expressed frustration with the wave of lawsuits filed against Blackwater, which is now known as Xe Services.
Mr. Prince, who said moving to Abu Dhabi would “make it harder for the jackals to get my money,” said he intended to find opportunities in “the energy field.”
Jeremy Scahill has reported of Prince openly proposing "that the US government deploy armed private contractors to fight 'terrorists' in ... Somalia".
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From a press release from the govt of Puntland
Puntland delegation meets U.S., U.N. and A.U. officials in Djibouti
A government delegation from Puntland State of Somalia led by His Excellency President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole) arrived in Djibouti City on Wednesday.
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n the afternoon, the delegation met privately with a U.S. government delegation led by U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti, His Excellency James Swan. Ambassador Swan was accompanied by Ms. Cheryl Sim, Somalia Affairs Councilor at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, which is responsible for Somalia.
Discussions with the U.S. officials centered around the Puntland government’s decision to stop cooperation with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu.
The Puntland delegation justified the reasons for the Puntland Cabinet decision of January 16, 2011. Other topics included Puntland’s share in the training of Somali security forces, the establishment of the Puntland Marine Force training program in Bossaso, the fight against Al Shabaab and terrorism, and the U.S. position on TFG plans for a term-extension.
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The day concluded for the Puntland delegation after a meeting with the African Union’s special envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Boubacar Goussou Diara. Ambassador Diara was accompanied to the meeting by Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha, the Force Commander of the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) in Mogadishu.
The meeting was focused on strengthening cooperation between Puntland and AMISOM, as well as discussions on security and the fight against Al Shabaab insurgents. Ambassador Diara explained AU plans for Somalia and agreed with Puntland’s assessment that Al Shabaab insurgents are amassing forces in the central regions and are planning to attack the peaceful region of Puntland.
Biyokulule Online: Déjà Vu: The Farole – Sharif Debacle
To the followers of Somali politics, the press release and the press conference held by the Puntland Administration last Sunday, seems like the rerun of the political showdown that occurred in the same month two years ago between Farole and Sharif. The whole event which was spread over a period of about three weeks (January 24, 2009 to February 14, 2009) was characterized by a media blitz, listing numerous grievances on the part of Farole. That public outcry was centered on the necessity to include Puntland in the then power-sharing process in Djibouti between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the opposition.-- -- --
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Once Sharif was crowned President of Somalia, Farole started the campaign to secure the number two post of the TFG which is that of the Prime Minister (PM). The Puntland Administration threatened to withdraw its support for the newly appointed President and to secede from Somalia if Sharif did not choose the new PM among the list of names submitted to him by Farole.
Two days after, upon the selection of Omar A. Sharmarke as the new Somali PM by Sharif, Puntland welcomed the newly formed government and became a staunch supporter of federalism.
After reviewing these facts, some questions need to be answered. Biyokulule Online will also take this opportunity to draw a parallel between those events and the current stance of Farole`s Administration.
The NYT report that Erik Prince's "precise role remains unclear" while the AP quotes a source stating that Prince is "overseeing" the operation.
AP: Blackwater founder trains Somalis
Erik Prince, whose former company Blackwater Worldwide became synonymous with the use of private U.S. security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has quietly taken on a new role in helping to train troops in lawless Somalia.Can't take him seriously though b/c the idea that the project could be kept a secret from "the pirates", some of which have links to Puntland officials, is laughable. Obviously that remark was a prevarication.
Prince is involved in a multimillion-dollar program financed by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to mobilize some 2,000 Somali recruits to fight pirates who are terrorizing the African coast, according to a person familiar with the project and an intelligence report seen by The Associated Press.
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Lafras Luitingh, the chief operating officer of Beirut-registered Saracen International, said the company had sought to keep the project secret to surprise the pirates. He said his company signed a contract with the Somali government in March. He declined to say whether Prince was involved in the project and said he was not part of Saracen.
Since the signing, a new Somali government has taken office and has appointed a panel to investigate the Saracen deal and others, said Minister of Information Abdulkareem Jama. He said he had not been aware of Prince's involvement. Separately, the U.N. is quietly investigating whether the Somalia projects have broken the blanket embargo on arms supplies to Somali factions.-- -- --
The money is moving through a web of international companies, the addresses of which didn't always check out when the AP sought to verify them.
There are at least three Saracens — the one registered in Lebanon, and two run by Luitingh's business partner and based in Uganda, where government office employees told the AP the registration papers have disappeared. An AP reporter in Beirut could not find the address Luitingh's company provided in the Somali contract. Lebanese authorities had no address listed for Saracen in Lebanon and said it is based in the United Arab Emirates.
Afloat Leasing, which owns two ships that have been working with Saracen, said it was Liberian-registered, but an AP reporter didn't find it at the address given or in Liberian records.
The force's mission may be more than just curbing piracy.
A former U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to talk to the media, said that besides targeting pirates, the new force in Puntland will go after a warlord who allegedly supplies weapons to al-Shabab, Somalia's most feared insurgent group. Luitingh said he had never heard of such a plan.
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Saracen has declined to disclose the source of its financing. A person familiar with the project, insisting on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said Prince is overseeing the antipiracy training.
The intelligence report, in which the United Arab Emirates was identified as a funder and Prince as a participant, was given to the AP on condition its author and agency not be disclosed because the document was confidential. Several Western security officials said in interviews that those findings were trustworthy.
Lots of press made out of the news recently that soldiers and foreign fighters in Mogadishu were actually being paid w/ the promise of regularity, however...
UN News Centre: funds running short for Government, UN-backed African peacekeepers
Soldiers from Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the African Union peacekeeping mission that is trying to stabilize the conflict-wracked country need urgent funding to continue their operations, a senior United Nations envoy warned today.
“I should take this opportunity to inform that the [UN] Trust Fund for paying both AMISOM and TFG soldiers is at its lowest,” UN Special Representative for Somalia Augustine Mahiga told a meeting of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) of Somali officials and interested partners in neighbouring Djibouti, referring to the AU mission by its acronym.
Mr. Mahiga made a similar plea in his briefing to the Security Council last week...
COMMUNIQUE OF THE JOINT SECURIY COMMITTEE - 20 Jan 2011
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Shabelle Media: Ethiopian military begins searching buses passing Hiran region
Ethiopian military forces, who routinely cross into Somalia soil, have started searching public buses and trucks using parts in Hiran region in central Somalia, witnesses said on Friday.-- -- --
Public Buses and trucks loading with Cargoes have been searched by the Ethiopian military troops in the junction of Kalabeyrka just outside Beletwyne town the regional capital of country’s central region of Hiran, some of bus and truck drivers told Shabelle Media Network.
The drivers indicated most of the activities in the junction of Kalabeyrka are still on hold because of the Ethiopians who are making complete search on all transportation vehicles and trucks passing thought the intersection.
The step by the Ethiopian military comes one day after Somali government forces in the area clashed in the Hiran region central Somalia leaving at least soldiers dead.
Reports from the region say the Ethiopians made a base in Kalabeyraka.
Garowe Online: Puntland bans TFG officials, dispute escalates
A political dispute between Somalia's weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the state government of Puntland in northern Somalia escalated Saturday after Puntland banned TFG officials from visiting the peaceful state, Radio Garowe reports.
Puntland's deputy interior minister, Mr. Ali "Gaab" Yusuf, told reporters in the Puntland capital of Garowe that the Council of Ministers has voted in favor of banning TFG officials from Puntland.
"We have informed all government departments including airports that TFG officials cannot set foot inside Puntland," Minister Ali Gaab said.
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TFG officials have not responded to Puntland's latest move. But Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Farmajo said during an interview that the people of Puntland "do not share" the Puntland government's views on the TFG.
Prime Minster Farmajo's comments sparked protests across Puntland's major towns, including Bossaso, Qardo, Garowe and Galkayo. Protestors condemned the TFG Prime Minister's comments and supported the Puntland government’s position.
Liban Ahmad calls out PM Farmajo in a new commentary, Intellectual dishonesty of the Somali prime minister
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Three links on Malta that may or may not connect
Times of Malta: AFM team in Uganda to train Somali soldiers
A three-man team of military instructors from the Armed Forces of Malta are in Uganda to take part in the European Union’s training mission, EUTM Somalia.
The mission is the second such deployment of AFM instructors to the Somali training camp, based in Uganda, following the first phase of training of over 200 Somali recruits in April.
The second group of Maltese instructors will form part of a Maltese-Irish team and are undergoing induction training in preparation for the arrival of a second batch of Somali recruits.
The mission, set up by the EU in support of the United Nations 1872 (2009) resolution, aims to improve the living conditions of the Somali people by bringing about a more secure environment in which the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and its institutions can operate unhindered by the criminal and radical groups in the region.
The mission provides Somali soldiers with infantry training in order to improve their capability to counter threats to national security.
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Since November 2008, the AFM have also contributed an officer to the EU’s anti-piracy mission, Operation Atalanta. The work, at the UK headquarters, is aimed at combating acts of piracy occurring off the coast of Somalia.
As part of the same operation, Malta last year deployed a 12-man vessel-protection detachment in the Gulf of Aden on board a Dutch military vessel. Preparations were underway to deploy a second detachment, the AFM said.
Malta was named as the shipping origin in that arms ring raid in Durban last month:
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge said that preliminary investigations showed the firearms had been transported from Malta.
From a transcript of a speech this month by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh:
the Cheney-Bush years, I can just describe this scene that I was talking about earlier today, which is that in early April of 2003 after we won, quote-unquote, the war, before the insurgents -- the dead-enders, as Mr. Rumsfeld called it initially -- before they took, before the other war began, the war of attrition, there was looting of the artifacts. There was a big, sort of, it was a huge story in the United States and I'm sure around the world, the various gangs that were looting -- there is a lot of looting in Tunisia right now, it's one of the byproducts of unrest -- the various gangs looted the museums, etc. There was a big hue and cry, and Rumsfeld was asked about it and his basic attitude was sort of: "Boys will be boys," you know, "This is the price of freedom."-- -- --
So, but in the Cheney shop -- I can write about it in ways I could not then, because I didn't want expose anybody who was there -- in the Cheney shop the attitude was, "What's this? What? What are they all worried about, the politicians and the press, they're all worried about some looting? And wait a second, Sunnis don't like Shia? And there's no WMD? And there's no democracy? Don't they get it? We're going to change mosques into cathedrals. And when we get hold of all the oil, nobody' s going to give a damn." That's the attitude: "We're going to change mosques into cathedrals."
That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the Joint Special Operations Command and Stanley McChrystal, the one who got in trouble because of the article in Rolling Stone, and his follow-on, a Navy admiral named McRaven, Bill McRaven -- all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta they had in Cyprus a few months back in November. They're all believers -- many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they are doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims in the 13th century. And this is their function. They have little insignias, they have coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins, and they have insignia that reflect that, the whole notion that this is a war, it's culture war.
Separately in that speech, Seymour Hersh says
Obama did abdicate, very quickly, any control, I think right away, to the people that are running the war, for what reason I don't know. I can tell you, there is a scorecard I always keep and I always look at. Torture? Yep, still going on. It's more complicated now the torture, and there's not as much of it. But one of the things we did, ostensibly to improve the conditions of prisoners, we demanded that the American soldiers operating in Afghanistan could only hold a suspected Taliban for four days, 96 hours. If not... after four days they could not be sure that this person was not a Taliban, he must be freed. Instead of just holding them and making them Taliban, you have to actually do some, some work to make the determination in the field. Tactically, in the field. So what happens of course, is after three or four days, "bang, bang" -- I'm just telling you -- they turn them over to the Afghans and by the time they take three steps away the shots are fired. And that's going on. It hasn't stopped. It's not just me that's complaining about it. But the stuff that goes on in the field, is still going on in the field -- the secret prisons, absolutely, oh you bet they're still running secret prisons. Most of them are in North Africa, the guys running them are mostly out of Djibouto [sic]. We have stuff in Kenya (doesn't mean they're in Kenya, but they're in that area).-- -- --
Mareeg Online: Sheikh Yusuf Indha’ade: T.F.G could not disarm me
Sheikh Yusuf Indha’ade, former official of Hisbul-Islam militias and lately ally with Somali Transitional Federal Government told on Saturday that he could be disarmed by the T.F.G-- -- --
Indha’ade, leader of a wing of Hisbul-Islam at government area control who was once a state minister of defense for T.F.G, but lost that post before Farmajo nominated to be prime minister, said that he could not be disarmed by T.F.G now.
“It’s something surprise that a man claiming a minister of defense says he would do disarming”. Idha’ade said.
Indha’ade said that they fight with what he called religious bandits that he meant Islamist militias of Al-shabab adding that they are known to the role of battling with enemy.
Sheikh Mohamed Siyad Indha’ade’s speech comes as acting prime minister and minister of defense affairs, A/hakim Haji Mohamud Fiqi told on Friday that they would collect and disarm militias carrying weapons inside civilians who are not government troops.
The price of loading parliament w/ enough votes to seat Sh. Sharif...
Daily Nation: Somalia MPs owed six months salary arrears
Somalia legislators have been working without pay for the last six months, a member of parliament has revealed.
Prof Mohamed Omar Dalha who is a MP of Lower Shebele, said 550 MPs who serve in the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia are a miserable lot owing to the refusal of the international community to pay their allowances.
Prof Dalha added that this was despite the international community slashing their allowances from $1,800 per month to $600 in 2009.
The transitional government, he said, depends on financial support from the international community for its operations since it cannot collect taxes as peace was still elusive in the country battered by war.
He said it was a huge blunder for the international community to have pushed for the doubling of MPs’ numbers from 275 to 550 as the wage bills skyrocketed.
“When the MPs were 275, the international community used to pay us $1,800 each per month without any problems,” Prof Dalha who served as a cabinet minister and deputy speaker during former president Yusuf Abdillahi’s regime said.
“But since the MPs were doubled to 550 we are unable to recieve even the $600 allowances per month subjecting us into intolerable suffering,” he lamented.
The MPs, he said, were unable to meet their families’ needs nor their accommodation and food expenses since they stay in hotels in the wake of the frequent fights between the islamist group Al Shabaab and the government forces.
U.S.G. Foreign Assistance website - Where is the Money Going?: Somalia
The vast majority of the allocated money goes directly into the "Peace & Security" sector. No suprise there. The charts show zero dollars going to "Humanitarian Assistance" in 2010 and none allocated yet for 2011. Now that is a little surprising.
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Much of this assumes that the TFG itself has any real say in the matter
NYT: Somalia Is Likely to Cut Ties To Mercenaries, Official Says
The minister of information for the transitional federal government here said Sunday that Somalia was likely to end its relationship with Saracen International, a private security company in which South African mercenaries and the founder of Blackwater Worldwide are said to be involved.Ummm. Hello?
...after the recent disclosure of an African Union report that said Erik Prince, Blackwater’s founder, provided seed money for the Saracen contract and was “at the top of the management chain,” many of Somalia’s biggest financial supporters, including the United States, have questioned the wisdom of the deal. Somali officials, in turn, have cooled to the idea of working with Saracen.
“At this point, our collective thinking is that this is not a good thing,” said the minister of information, Abdulkareem Jama.
“We don’t want to have anything to do with Blackwater,” he said, mentioning accusations that Blackwater employees had killed civilians in Iraq. “We need help, but we don’t want mercenaries.”
Mr. Jama’s word will not be the last concerning Saracen, whose clandestine operations have incited controversy in Somalia’s Parliament. Several representatives have accused the government of striking secret deals that could open Somalia to private security companies and worsen the nation’s instability. Other Somali officials were said to be debating, on Sunday night, how to handle Saracen.
Mr. Jama is considered one of the government’s most powerful ministers — he was the president’s chief of staff until recently — and he sits on the four-member committee that is entrusted with reviewing the Saracen contract. He said a final report would be given to Parliament this week. “Our recommendation is not to go forward with this,” he said. “This all has a bad taste.”
Somalia’s defense minister, Abdulhakim Mohamoud Haji Faqi, agreed: “We will not accept any mercenaries.”
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Mr. Faqi said he was open to the idea of working with private security contractors to “improve the capacity” of government troops — if another country would pay for it.
Saracen officials declined to comment Sunday, as did a spokesman for Mr. Prince. Last week, Mr. Prince’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, challenged the African Union report, saying that Mr. Prince had “no financial role” in Saracen and that he was primarily involved in humanitarian efforts and in fighting pirates in Somalia. Mr. Prince, who faces a wave of lawsuits, recently rebranded Blackwater as Xe Services.-- -- --
Saracen signed a separate security-related deal with officials in Puntland, a semiautonomous, pirate-infested region of northern Somalia. According to United Nations officials, Saracen agents recently imported weapons into Puntland, a possible violation of the longstanding arms embargo on Somalia, and Saracen agents have begun training a heavily armed, antipirate militia.
Mr. Jama said he hoped that Puntland would “follow the direction of the federal government and not continue with Saracen,” but officials there recently said they were so fed up with the federal government’s lack of progress that they were going to cut their ties.
On Sunday evening, Puntland’s information minister, Abdihakim Ahmed Guled, declined to discuss Saracen, saying, “I cannot give you any information regarding this case.”
An unsourced article in the East African this weekend, titled Somali "Awakening,' a potential solution to the al Shabaab menace, that goes on to admit that the rise of ASWJ was "actually the first Awakening" but leaves out the stories in 2008/2009 (e.g., Time) of the efforts at that time to fund and kickstart something similar to what had been done in Iraq, including, as soon as he was put into place, Sh. Sharif traveling the countryside handing out money to former allies.
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