MOGADISHU — The influential Islamic Courts, now controlling the capital and much of southern Somalia, seized a key central port on Wednesday, August 16, amid reports that more than 100 government troops had defected to their side in new blows to the weak interim administration.
"We have extended our reach to Hobyo," a senior Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) of the town about 500 kilometers (300 miles) north of Mogadishu.
"We did not capture it, but we reached the people of Hobyo to bring them our message of peace," he added on condition of anonymity.
"The courts were welcomed by the people of Hobyo. This is a great gift from the mighty Allah, we thank him," a second senior official said.
Telephone communication is impossible to Hobyo but residents reached by radio confirmed the Islamic Courts had entered the town after several days of talks with elders.
"The courts are now in control of Hobyo. They arrived this morning after staying overnight in nearby villages," resident Farah Dullane told AFP.
"Their presence is a reality in our town."
The move north follows the weekend seizure of the port of Haradere, further south, from where bands of pirates had been operating, attacking dozens of ships off the Somali coast in the past year.
The Islamic Courts has continued to gain more grounds since defeating the US-led warlord Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) and seizing Mogadishu on June.
Warlords had controlled the capital of the Horn of Africa country since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre.
Defection
Earlier Wednesday, Islamic Courts officials said around 100 government troops, along with seven battlewagons, crossed into their territory overnight from near the interim government seat of Baidoa.
"The militiamen communicated with Al-bayan Islamic court in Mogadishu and said they wanted to join our holy effort to bring peace to the Somali people," said court chairman Mohamed Ali Bilal.
"They are ideologically uncomfortable with the government and also claim to have been mistreated," he told AFP.
"I pray Allah will give his courage to the remaining soldiers in Baidoa to see the true realities of Somalia, I hope they will all join us," Bilal said.
Government officials in Baidoa, about 250 kilometers west of the capital, confirmed that a group of disgruntled soldiers had deserted but put their number at fewer than 50.
The defections come as tensions rise between the largely powerless government and the Islamic Courts.
Planned Arab League-mediated talks this week in Sudan to calm the situation were delayed again on Tuesday as the Islamic Courts renewed demands for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
During a meeting in Khartoum brokered by the Arab League, the interim government and the Islamic Courts agreed to recognize each other and hold more talks.
Home to about 10 million largely impoverished people, Somalia has lacked almost all the trappings of a functional state, such as national systems of education, healthcare and justice, for the past 15 years.
Alhamdulilah,praise to Allah that some would fight to keep peace and safety of all..
And not just say peace but abhor taking up arms.
Or even worse call those who take up arms in a deragatory manner.
Do any one how we can send fund to the samoli goverment.?
May Allah strengthen their heart for the adversity from the hyprocrites and the kafir that is to come.
May the fighter always follow the Islamic creed and thru it gain victory.
Home to about 10 million largely impoverished people, Somalia has lacked almost all the trappings of a functional state, such as national systems of education, healthcare and justice, for the past 15 years.
i only agree with the justice part the rest is nonsense
somalia without a government
]WORLD BANK
Somalia flourished precisely because of the "world community’s" neglect.
In Somalia, "the very absence of a government may have helped nurture an African oddity — a lean and efficient business sector that does not feed at a public trough controlled by corrupt officials," wrote Peter Maas in the May 2001 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Tele-communications, transportation, and shipping companies were organized up to provide services to the liberated private sector. Internet cafes have sprung up in Mogadishu. Private security firms helped businessmen protect their investments and property.
A recent World Bank study grudgingly admitted: "Somalia boasts lower rates of extreme poverty and, in some cases, better infrastructure than richer countries in Africa." This is almost certainly because it is not cursed with a World Bank-subsidized central government to siphon away the nation’s wealth.
According to Andrew Cockburn in the July issue of National Geographic magazine, Somalia is rising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the 1993 war and becoming an economic powerhouse in eastern Africa precisely because anarchy has reigned ever since. Consider Cockburn’s on-the-scene assessment of what has happened since the war. "Like plants sprouting after a forest fire, Somalis have managed to survive and build on their own, in some respects with more success than developing nations on the receiving end of international aid and advice."
Significantly, the Somalis get it. They have learned through experience that less government is good, and that no government is better. Hear what telecommunications tycoon Abdirizak Ido told Mr. Cockburn: "We have been through some hard times, but the worst was when we had a government. Once there was no government, there was opportunity!"
Somali Businesses Stunted by Too-Free Enterprise
By Ian Fisher
There are five competing airlines here; three phone companies, which have some of the cheapest rates in the world; at least two pasta factories; 45 private hospitals; 55 providers of electricity; 1,500 wholesalers for imported goods; and an infinite number of guys with donkeys who will deliver 55 gallons of clean water to your house for 25 cents.
What Somalia does not have is a government, and in many ways, that makes it the world's purest laboratory for capitalism. No one collects taxes. Business is booming. Libertarians of the world, unite
It is striking that Somalia, unlike many parts of Africa, has achieved this thriving business climate on its own, without the usual aid and advice from rich nations. They have all but disengaged from Somalia since the failure of the United Nations operation here in the early 1990's. Somalis have learned that they are pretty good at making money.
"It's entrepreneurism that's doing it," said Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, director of programs for Horn Afrik, Somalia's first independent radio and television station, established last year. "It's who has more creativity. It's who is willing to take risks. Before it was the government. The government could make you rich one day and poor the next
Bossaso city has become a magnet for foreigners who want to invest in Africa. This week alone, there are about half a dozen business people representing Chinese and South Korean corporations in the city. These representatives and others who frequent Puntland want to invest in the region and expand their business to this part of the world. Interested people include wealthy business men from the Middle East.
Puntland (North Eastern Somalia) has not been touched by the country’s civil war and has remained stable after the fall of Somalia’s central government in 1991. It lies on the tip of East Africa and borders Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
• GAROWE, Somalia July 12 (Garowe Online)
THE PUNTLAND Parliament formally ratified an exploration agreement on Wednesday presented by the Administration in a majority vote. The "Puntland Agreement" was signed in mid-2005 between the Puntland State government and Range Resources, Ltd., an Australian exploration company.
After 2 days of debate, 55 Puntland lawmakers out of a total of 66 ratified the "Agreement" – a day after President Mohamud "Adde" Muse addressed Parliament and informed them of changes to an article in the "Agreement." On Tuesday, President Adde told legislators that the "exclusive rights" article was removed from the original contract, which allows Puntland to be divided into "blocks" and that "other companies" are welcome to explore the region's rumored natural resources wealth
Telcom is the largest and the leading telecommunications network operator in Somalia. Telcom is the first major privately owned company providing telecommunications in Somalia territory. Telcom principal activities include local, long distance, national and international telecommunication, mobile communications, and a wide range of data services including broadband access.
STG over the years has proven to be a lucrative successful telephone business venture. STG became a vital part of Somali people socially and commercially. Customer demand did not end only for voice and fax services; currently STG telecom services include GSM Mobile services, SMS, Prepaid telecom services, high speed internet, local and international long distance services through out the entire STG Network.
NATIONLINK
Headquartered in Mogadishu, Somalia, NationLink offers a variety of
telecom services including landline telephones, faxes, data, long range
cordless telephones and Internet services. NationLink is one of three major
telecommunications companies headquartered in Mogadishu that has participated
in collaborating to form a joint Internet company -- Somali Internet Company
(SICO) to provide services throughout the region
UNIVERSITIES
The university is a multipurpose institution. In addition to preparing competent professionals, it aims to be a community learning centre, an idea hub, a focal point for practical and theoretical research, and a development engine that makes real difference to lives of the people in the city and beyond.
BU was established in Mogadishu, Somalia in September 2002. The University has now four Faculties (Medicine, Computer Science, Education and Engineering). and there are plans to add other faculties at earliest possible time.
MU shall take a pioneering role in filling the educational gap created during the civil war so as to provide higher education opportunities for the young generations of Somalia.
MU shall give students an opportunity of higher education and specialization in various spheres of sciences and literature in response to the desperate needs of the country for educated human resources.
MU shall develop indigenous scientific knowledge through encouraging focused research programs in the priority sectors
Amoud University is a community-owned non-governmental, national University and open to all aspiring candidates who fulfill the admission requirements without discrimination based on sex, ethnic, origin, creed or color.
Faculties
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Business and Public Administration
Faculty of Medicine of Surgery
Faculty of Natural Resources (Department of Agriculture )
Faculty of Information & Communication Technology (Online )
one surpasses Ethiopia,Sudan,Ghana and the other 2 are higher ranked than Djibouti and Eritrea
DIASPORA
Dahabshiil has 75 agents in the UK and over 400 branches and agents world-wide
The quality of service differentiates Dahabshiil from its competitors. Dahabshiil is now recognised as the most reputable commercial enterprise in the sector. Customers call it trustworthy, reliable, cost-effective and efficient.
The company's long-term strategy is to remain the first choice of money transfer services for migrants from the Horn of Africa. Our mission is to be an innovative, customer-oriented company that consistently exceeds customers' expectations of service.
The diaspora anually pumps 2/3 billion into somalia
It may surprise you that we have been around for over 12 years. The company has grown from humble beginning with one Cessna aircraft in 1991, to become one of the largest flights network in Africa. Daallo Airlines is nominated as one of the show case success stories in Africa by Mr. Fick, David S, in his book of "Entrepreneurship in Africa: A study of Success".
NO AIDS PANDEMIC
By STEPHANIE NOLEN
Monday, July 25, 2005
XUDDUR, SOMALIA -- They have posters. They have training manuals. They have wipe-off markers. The only thing that the earnest band of AIDS educators in this Somali town don't have is, well, any people with AIDS.
At least none they know of.
The breadth of the AIDS pandemic has led to the idea in the West that the entire continent is ravaged by the disease. But Somalia -- isolated for 14 years since the civil war began and populated by devout Muslims -- has an infection rate of perhaps only 1.5 or 2 per cent of the adult population.
Its isolation has helped to keep the infection rate one of the lowest in Africa at a time when countries to the south are reporting infection rates of 40 per cent of the adult population
POLIO
''If polio can be stopped in Somalia, it can be stopped anywhere,"
Carol Bellamy, Unicef's executive director
Nairobi - The United Nations has removed conflict-ravaged Somalia from a list of polio-endemic countries as no new cases of the disease have been reported in the Horn of Africa nation for two years, the UN Children's Fund said on Monday.
The agency described Somalia's success in combating polio as a "miraculous victory for children over conflict and devastation."
"If polio can be stopped in Somalia, it can be stopped anywhere," Carol Bellamy, Unicef's executive director, said in statement. "This success is a testament to the will of the Somali people and the effectiveness of strategies in place to stop the virus."
The nation of seven million people has not had an effective central government since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, and has been ruled by rival, heavily armed clan-based militia for more than a decade.
Polio is still endemic in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Niger and Egypt.
An immunisation campaign in Nigeria has been marred by a six-month polio vaccine boycott in the west African nation's predominantly Islamic northern state of Kano.
Kano authorities have insisted tests conducted by the state's scientists last year showed the vaccines were contaminated with a variant of the hormone estrogen, which they said would cause infertility in girls.
Some Nigerian Islamic clerics also argued the vaccines also spread Aids, claiming their evidence originated on the Internet.
Somalia is a predominantly Muslim country, and Unicef praised Islamic leaders in that nation for being a "major force" behind immunisation campaigns.
A fresh three-day campaign was launched in Somalia on Monday.
The United Nations and its partners, including Rotary International and the United States' Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, are planning to implement monitoring systems in Somalia in the next few months. Once they are in place, the country has to have no reported cases of polio for another two years to be deemed polio free. - Sapa-AP
CURRENCY
SoSh (Somali shilling)
the SoSh's stability is reflected by the fact that in parts of neighboring Ethiopia the SoSh is more extensivly used than Ethiopia's own currency (little :2003 :144) In fact prior to the last large monetary injection in Somalia in march 1999 and in 2000 the SoSh showed greater stability than the currencies of Ethiopia and Kenya from 1996 february to 1999 the SoSh depreciated against the US$ only 12.14% Between 1996-1999 the Kenyan shilling lost 32.55% against the US$ and the Ethiopian birr depreciated against the dollar 26.58% -Peter Leeson "better of stateless"
Berbera of somaliland and bossaso of Puntland ports
LIVE STOCK TRADE
REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
HILAAC REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTIONS
Bosasso 1 | 91 houses - almost completed
Bosasso 2 | 80 houses - started september 30 2005
Gaalkacyo 1 | 300 houses - started september 30 2005
Laascaanood | 250 houses - planned to start in 2005
Gaalkacyo 2 | 300 houses - planned to start in 2006
Garowe | 150 houses - planned to start in 2006
Carmo | 100 houses - planned to start in 2006
Dayeel is locally owned Somaliland Constructions company employing around 400 staff across Somaliland and with completion of approximately 100 of constructions annually.
DCC is highly respected and well-established contracting company, with professional builders and surveyors supported by an experienced administrative team. We provide a complete range of construction and program management services in all in the segments of residential and business building market.
Import and export is a booming business. Traders are doing whatever they can to get hold of useful stuff that can sell abroad. Neither traditional nor non-traditional commodities are spared. Even markets for scrap metals that litter all over the place are to be found, especially old military gear and other devices wrecked during the civil war.
The import sector is the most interesting. Town dwellers all over Somalia cannot complain of a shortage of commodities as adroit traders have managed to fill stores with all sorts of goods. Sugar from Brazil, toys from Thailand, trinkets from India and even shotguns from Ukraine all compete for buyers in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
Trade between Somalia and other countries has multiplied. Some people even estimate that the trade volume is so huge that it could be considered one of the biggest in the Horn of Africa, outdoing more politically stable countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
Sceptics say Somali traders have become so profit driven as to compromise all values. Environmental and public health concerns have been raised, especially due to deforestation. The prevalence of strange diseases is assumed to be due to consumption of substandard, imported foods and drugs.
In the absence of law enforcing institutions to safeguard investor rights, joint ventures have been founded based on trust. It seems unimaginable that as many as 600 investors could pool their capital in order to initiate and run a single or a chain of businesses. It is not unusual to hear radio announcements calling shareholders for a meeting or news of a company management declaring payment of dividends. But beneficiaries tend to hide their huge income, fearing kidnappers.
Minarets of mosques generally greet visitors to Somalia's urban areas, but in these days the sight of communication transmitters of the shape of Paris's Eiffel Tower is becoming quite common. They are the product of intense competition among telecommunications and media companies who want to send and receive signals through the airwaves.
The recent opening of a Coca Cola plant in Mogadishu is an indication of how multinationals are beginning to expand their franchises to previously risky areas. It is a sign that more investors will follow suit, creating jobs and generating more locally made products.
- We are a fishing company located on the coast of Somalia. We deal in all sorts of fish like Grouper, Red Snapper, King fish, shark fins, lobster, sea cucumber etc.
A company based in Kenya, somalia and also Dubai. We do handling exporting and local supply of frozen and live lobsters from lower Jubba especially Burgao, Kuda, Kamboni, Gobwain and Kismayo. We export 5000 frozen lobster to overseas each month by air.
Exporting mainly on hamour fillet, tuna and lobsters. We also have a legal permission from the Somaliland government so that any investor who is willing, a joint venture in this industry is welcome.
We are one of the biggest export & import companies in the East African countries. Products include grouper, red snapper, king fish, tuna, shrimps, lobster. Also: dried fishes such as shark fins, shark bones, sea cucumbers, fish maws, dried shark meat and dried shrimps.
We are exporters/wholesalers of seafood. Our facility in Somalia is very modern, it includes a new 100mt freezer capacity. Our products include Snapper, Grouper, Kingfish, Tuna and in addition we would be able to supply other species that are available in the Indian Ocean.
4/11 SomFish Ltd Said Ali
Sadiq Shire Bosaaso +971 50 348 4160 +971 4 227 8611 [email protected]
Recap
- Somalia's communications network is more advanced then it's neighbouring countries
-Somalia's private sector has a trade network considered the biggest of the horn africa
-Somalia has 3 universities in the top 100, one is higher ranked than Ghana,Ethiopia,Sudan
-Somalia doesn't have an AIDS pandemic
-Somalia has an diaspora that anually pumps in billions trough Dahabshiil
-Somalia eradicated POLIO
-Somalia's Daallo Airlines is becoming one of the biggest flights network in africa
-Somalia's currency is more stable then the ones of Kenya and Ethiopia and is even used in those countries
-Somalia's real estate and fishing industries are taking off
-Somalia's Puntland is attracting foreign investors from all over Asia
-Somalia livestock industry is booming
somalia achieved all of this without a government and foreign aid
yeah somalia still has a long way to go but this is definitly a good start in the right direction
somalia only needs stability and it seems the ICU are the right people for somalia and they will deliver what the people want
today they opened the ''Islamic Solidarity'' Mosque wich was closed for 16 years ever since the warlords came into power
restorations of the Mosque are being planned and bussines men and women are donating to the ICU headquarters
masha-allah
Last edited by AHMED_GUREY; 08-19-2006 at 05:56 PM.
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