By Yara Bayoumy ____________ DOHA (Reuters) – The Somali government expects to get its first shipment of light weapons within two months after the United Nations partially lifted an arms embargo to strengthen security forces fighting al Qaeda-linked militants, Somalia’s president said. Aware of international wariness about sending arms to a volatile country already awash...
By Angus McDowall and Asma Alsharif _________ JEDDAH (Reuters) – Down a narrow alleyway deep in the Jeddah slum of Karantina, three women from Sudan have set up stalls under colourful parasols, selling peanuts, hibiscus petals, dried pulses, baskets, frankincense, calabashes and sandalwood. They laugh and gossip in the sunshine, swathed in bright printed cloth,...
By Mike Puckett ________ Ku soodhawada magalada Louisville, Sahra iyo goyskeeda! These are the Somali words with which Beargrass and Kentucky Refugee Ministries greeted Sahra Mohammed Ali and her six children at the Louisville International Airport late on the evening of February 21 (English translation: Welcome to Louisville, Sahra and family!). Twenty adults and youth...
Nairobi, March 27, 2013 ( WRW)– Members of state security forces and armed groups have raped, beaten, and otherwise abused displaced Somalis who have arrived in Somalia’s capital fleeing famine and armed conflict since 2011, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The new Somali government should urgently improve the protection and security of...
Gunmen kill female journalist in Somalia; 3 media workers killed so far in 2013 ____________ MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A media colleague says that gunmen in Somalia have shot and killed a female Somali journalist. Abdikarim Ahmed Bulhan, the director of Abudwak radio in central Somalia, said Monday that two men armed with pistols...
NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say a Somali national has pleaded guilty in New York to charges of providing material support to terrorist groups. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the unsealing Monday of the 2011 plea by Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame (AH’-mehd ahb-dool-kuh-DEER’ wahr-SAH’-mee). According to court documents, Warsame helped train members of the Somalia-based terrorist...
A Joint Statement by Puntland Political Associations about the Current Democratization Process
The Columbus Dispatch In recent weeks, Columbus-based, Somali-born musician Abdinur Daljir has drawn press accolades more commonly bestowed on American rock stars. Pitchfork, a picky and powerful music website, called his global pop “a superb glimpse of what was” and touted “synth lines and accent percussion that would sound at home on Phil Collins’ No...
Just yesterday, when I was provoked to write my latest piece “Getting Our Perspective Right on Our Fellow Africans,” I quoted extensively from a great work by a great genius of Africa, Chinua Achebe. At the time, I had no idea that Achebe was inches away from death. Also my hunch tells me that I...
New report details the damaging effects of the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance regime By John Knefel March 11, 2013 Civil liberties groups led by the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition released a new report today detailing the detrimental effects of the NYPD’s spying on Muslim communities in recent years. The report, called Mapping Muslims: NYPD Spying and...