News & Articles
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(Medeshi)
by Yahoo! UK Games Editor
A brand new online service promises to serve games to your living rooms, LIVE, and without the need for an expensive console or a high-powered personal computer. It’s the future of gaming and – potentially – the death of traditional gaming devices as we know and love them.
OnLive – say it softly and not within earshot of Sony, Nintendo and co – circumvents the need to trudge to the shops, hand over your hard-earned cash and trudge all the way home again with the latest hot game. Instead, this ‘cloud’ service will deliver top games direct to your PC or TV screen instantly, using a small receiver unit that hooks up to your existing broadband connection.
(Medeshi)
KIGALI, Rwanda — The United Nations World Food Program announced Thursday that it would not give any new contracts to three Somali businessmen who have been accused of diverting food aid to Islamist militants and that the agency would welcome an independent investigation into its Somalia operations.
For months, World Food Program officials had denied anything was wrong, despite mounting allegations that the contractors they use to haul hundreds of millions of dollars of food into Somalia were stealing some of the food and funneling it to Islamist militants trying to topple Somalia’s weak transitional government.
(Medeshi)
Washington: US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have mourned the death of Grand Imam Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi, the head of al-Azhar University in Cairo.
"As the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar University, he was a voice for faith and tolerance who was widely respected in Muslim communities in Egypt and around the globe, and by many who seek to build a world grounded in mutual respect," the White House said in a statement.
"Sheikh Tantawi graciously hosted President Obama last June in Cairo, and we remember well his hospitality," it said.
(Medeshi)
A U.N. food agency said Thursday it will cooperate with any independent probe into its food operations in Somalia, after a report found that up to half the food aid intended for the nation's hungry people does not reach its destination.
The report said food aid in Somalia is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local U.N. workers. It calls on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to authorize an independent investigation of the operations of the World Food Program in the country.
(Medeshi)
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 Kenyan border with Somalia.
In addition, Israel has reportedly expressed an interest in being the first country to recognize the autonomous province of Somaliland as a country, according to a report in Somaliland's Golis News.
(Medeshi)
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and NEIL MacFARQUHAR
(“Somali ministers, members of Parliament, diplomats and ‘freelance brokers’ have transformed access to foreign visas into a growth industry, matched possibly only by piracy,” selling visas for $10,000 to $15,000 each, the report said.)
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.
(Photo: In Madena, outside Mogadishu, Somalia, soldiers with the transitional government guarded a district commissioner's office.Jehad Nga for The New York Times)
(Medeshi)
-Reuters-
LONDON - The United Nations Ethics Committee has upheld complaints by a former employee of the UN Development Program who said he suffered retaliation from the UNDP for alleging that its Somalia program was corrupt.
The man, Ismail Ahmed, was transferred to another office without proper visa support, and the UNDP Somalia office later told a potential employer not to hire him because of his "silly non-proven accusations", Ethics Committee Chairman Robert Benson found in a report seen by Reuters.
(Medeshi)
Simon Tisdall , guardian.co.uk,
Long-suffering residents of Mogadishu are steeling themselves for a new round of fighting as the western-backed transitional federal government (TFG) prepares to launch an offensive to expel Islamist militiamen from the Somali capital. Yet grim though the prospect is of renewed violence, the looming attack is a sign the tide may be turning in Somalia: the "good guys" are fighting back.
(Photo: Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers are preparing to launch an offensive against Islamist militia in Mogadishu. Photograph: POOL/REUTERS)
(Medeshi)
Stung by BBC allegations that Live Aid money was spent on weapons, Meles Zenawi tells Paul Vallely that the report is based on lies : The Independent
The prime minister of Ethiopia has stepped into the row between Sir Bob Geldof and the BBC which has claimed that 95 per cent of the $100m aid raised, by Live Aid and others, to fight famine in rebel-held northern Ethiopia in 1985 was diverted to be spent on weapons.
Meles Zenawi, who was one of the leaders of the rebel group the Tigrean People's Liberation Front, is now the country's Prime Minister. In an interview with The Independent he said that the BBC had fallen for lies put out by his political opponents on the eve of a general election in Addis Ababa next month.
"The notion that a decision was taken to spend 95 per cent of aid on the military is a complete lie," he said. "Anyone who knows anything about the situation in Tigray in 1984-85 would know that. The logic of that would be just ridiculous."
(Medeshi) - watch video below..
By William Maclean
LONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Somalia's government would welcome U.S. air support for an expected offensive aimed at retaking control of areas from al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Tuesday.
(Photo: Sheikh Sharif and PM Gordon Brown)
Speaking on a visit to Britain, Sheikh Sharif added that international aid for reconstruction would be needed to secure any areas gained in the push, expected in coming weeks in a test of attempts to restore stability in the Horn of Africa nation.
(Medeshi)
Whoever Somaliland people choose in the coming presidential elections will emerge out as a result of undesired outcome of clan devotion for the opposition political parties in Somaliland. The fact that certain Isaaq clans are devoted supporters of both KULMIYE and UCID parties makes it very unlikely for these two parties to defeat the incumbent UDUB party’s leadership, therefore, shifting the bulk of voters to UDUB.
(Medeshi)
Three people who fell to their deaths from a block of flats in Glasgow were asylum seekers, Sky sources say. Skip related content
Strathclyde Police confirmed that two men and a woman had died in the incident which happened in Petershill Drive, in the Springburn area of the city.
Sky's Rona Dougall said people in the area were shocked by what had happened.
"We understand that three people fell from the 15th floor," she said.
(Medeshi)
John Vidal, Juba, Sudan .The Observer.
An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens.
(Photo: A woman tends vegetables at a giant Saudi-financed farm in Ethiopia.)
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.
(Medeshi)
By: Rukia Abdirahman, Sponsorship Co-coordinator, National Office, Somalia/Somaliland,
It is a pleasure to send you our warmest greetings and share information with you this festive season.
Current Situation
The failure of the rains in many parts of Somaliland has led to massive loss of livestock, particularly for the rural population, many of whom are pastoralists. Yet despite this drought Sheikh has been the most peaceful zone in the horn of Africa. However, the security situation in the southern region, known as Somalia, is totally different: it has witnessed a lot of violence and intensified fighting between the government forces and the opposing Islamists factions.
(Medeshi)
Aidan Jones is the latest winner of our weekly travel writing competition for his account of an addictive pastime in Ethiopia.
By Aidan Jones
At the end of a muddy track, barely visible through the mist and drizzle, a knot of men paces anxiously, oblivious to the cold mountain rain. Friday prayers have just finished and Harar, the medieval cobblestone town of mystics, mosques, drug addicts and smugglers in north-east Ethiopia, is impatiently awaiting a delivery.
(Medeshi)
Osman Nour Hassan is a Somali Christian convert from Islam. Imprisoned twice for his faith in Christ, Osman endured repeated torture at the hand of Somaliland authorities.
He was last arrested in August 2009 for his evangelistic activity. ICC helped him to escape the country immediately after he was released from prison in November.
We had the opportunity to interview Osman regarding his torture and imprisonment and have included his responses below:
Q. Please tell us, in detail, the kind of persecution you faced after coming to Jesus Christ.
(Medeshi)
OSLO (Reuters) – Pirates have hijacked a Marshall Islands-registered tanker off Madagascar and are heading toward Somali waters, the ship's Norwegian owners said Friday.
The UBT Ocean, with a crew of 21, was carrying fuel oil from the United Arab Emirates to Tanzania, Svenn Pedersen, chief executive of shipowners Brovigtank, told Reuters. He said contact was lost with the vessel at about 0530 GMT Friday.
(Medeshi)
Rob Cole, Sky News Online
A retired British couple being held by pirates in Somalia may be freed within a fortnight, a senior Somali official has said.
Deputy parliamentary speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha said there would be an "unconditional release" of Paul and Rachel Chandler.
The pirates had been demanding £5m since capturing the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, off the coast of east Africa four months ago.
(Medeshi)
Radio show gives voice to Somali refugees in America
By Aja Harris, CNN
Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) -- On certain nights in Minnesota's Twin Cities, a turn of the radio dial can reveal Somali voices crackling over the radio waves.
But these aren't the voices of a distant land. They belong to Zuhur Ahmed, a local Somali radio host, and her show guests. Together, they are part of a population of about 30,000 Somali refugees in Minnesota.
Ahmed's show "Somali Community Link" offers a snapshot into local Somali life. Ahmed , 24, broadcasts most of the program, which airs on a local station called KFAI, in Somali. She uses the show to give a voice to the plight and triumphs of Somalis here.
(Medeshi)
By Abdiaziz Hassan
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United Nations and other international agencies working on Somalia should move to the Horn of Africa nation from neighbouring Kenya to be more effective, the U.N. special envoy to Somalia said.
Most embassies, foreign charitable organisations and the U.N. itself are based in Nairobi due to security concerns in most of Somalia and near-daily gunfights and mortar attacks in the capital.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's government has struggled to establish its influence, which has been whittled down by a three-year insurgency bent on toppling his Western-backed administration that only controls parts of the capital.
(Medeshi)
Again, the people of Somaliland and Somalia are thanking to his highness the King of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz for lifting the ban.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took productive step by allowing the livestock exports from Somaliland and Somalia. The livestock exports are economy backbone for both the countries, and 90% of daily income of Somali families is from livestock revenue. The Somali people at the horn of Africa cheered the decision of the kingdom to end the nine years old ban.
Historically, the Arabian Peninsula unveiled the importance and commercial quantity of Somali livestock during 19th century, after British Empire supplied meat to its military at Aden, Yemen, from the horn of African region, which caught the attention of the Yemeni traders, who later started exporting the meat and livestock from Somaliland to Saudi Arabia. The export of livestock by Yemeni traders was from the horn of Africa, Yemen and to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
(Medeshi)
Espoo engineer aims at broad-based government
Construction engineer Faisal Ali Farah, a naturalised Finnish citizen living in Espoo, is running for the office of President of Somaliland in elections scheduled for the coming autumn.
Somaliland, which declared itself independent from the rest of Somalia in 1991, has taken gradual steps toward democracy. A referendum on a constitution was held in 2001, the first local elections were held in 2002, and a multiparty democracy was adopted in 2003, at which time the first presidential elections were held.
(Medeshi)
2 Brits brought 95 pounds of drug to BWI
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Two British men have been deported after pleading guilty in county court last week to trying to smuggle 95 pounds of a euphoric plant called "khat" through customs at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
(Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
That’s not socks and underwear! Police and customs officials found 95 pounds of a euphoric plant called khat in luggage at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport in December. Two British men pleaded guilty last week to trying to smuggle the narcotic drug into BWI.
(Medeshi)
(ADDIS ABABA) – An opposition group said on Wednesday that his parliamentary candidate was stabbed to death on Tuesday by suspected government agents.
The Candidate, Aregawi Gebreyohannes, who runs for Arena-Tigray party was killed in a bar he owned in Hitsat Village, in the northern Tigray region, the home ground of the ruling EPRDF party.
(Medeshi)
Justices Weigh Claims Over Torture in Somalia
By ADAM LIPTAK, New York Times
WASHINGTON — After the Supreme Court heard an hour of technical arguments Wednesday about whether foreign officials may be sued in the United States over torture claims, one of the plaintiffs in the case stood on the steps outside and recalled what had happened to him in Somalia in the 1980s.
“They destroyed my entire tribe,” Bashe Abdi Yousuf said of the regime of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre. “I was tortured — waterboarded and put in electric shock.”
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Medeshi is the name of my place of birth which is located 25 KM North East of Erigavo, the capital of Sanaagland region of the republic of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa. It is rich in water, irrigation and frankincense. Medeshi is, also, historically unique after the British sent warplanes to bombard freedom fighter Mohamed Abdulle Hassan in the 1920s. This was the first time ever that the United Kingdom used air force in the Horn of Africa.
