EU, US dumping toxic waste in Africa

European states are still using African coasts as a dumping ground of toxic waste, even after enactment of legislation aimed at ending the practice by the European Union.

The worst examples of such dumping in the recent past, according to a report by the international environmental campaign group Greenpeace, is at the Somali port of Eel Ma’aan, north of Mogadishu.

Greenpeace is now calling on the United Nations to investigate the dumping of toxic and radioactive materials in Somalia.

In a 36-page document titled “Toxic Ships,” the UK-based group claims that it has photographic evidence from an inconclusive investigation by the Italian authorities into the suspected burying of shipping containers filled with toxic waste inside the foundations of the port at Eel Ma’aan, in the 1990s.

The EU adopted tough regulations on e-waste in 2003 but almost 70 per cent is still unaccounted for, Greenpeace said, citing figures from the European Commission.

“Waste management is extremely lucrative,” the group said, citing a sector turnover of €100 billion ($124 billion), providing up to 1.5 million jobs.

Europe generates some 1.3 billion tonnes of household and industrial waste a year, plus 700 million tonnes of agricultural waste, according to the European Environment Agency.

Of this, 40 million tonnes is hazardous.”

Ever since ocean dumping of industrial and radioactive waste was banned by the London Convention in 1993, Greenpeace says that “rumours of dumping operations in the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and off the coast of Somalia had been circulating, but governments have done little or nothing to verify them at source.”

But it says despite the new legislation, “the dirty, lucrative business goes on” and that “every day “toxic ships” sail from EU ports with cargos of toxic waste destined for a developing country.

Between 1988 and 1994, Greenpeace revealed 94 attempted or actual cases of hazardous waste exports to Africa, involving over 10 million tonnes of residues.

Some schemes included the building of local waste management facilities, incinerators and landfills.

Others concerned radioactive waste — such as the infamous ODM project that targeted at least 16 different African countries.

Many schemes, however, were simple dumping operations.

Waste containers were shipped following the path of least resistance and weakest governance, ending up in remote areas of countries such as Equatorial Guinea, Lebanon, Somalia and the Congo.

Toxic waste was also dumped on Nigerian and Haitian beaches.

European countries have been facing the challenge of dealing with the hazardous waste they produce for at least 30 years.

Greenpeace says that “as the cost of managing and disposing of this waste safely became clear, governments began exporting the problem to developing countries where environmental and workplace legislation is either inadequate or unenforced.”

Evidence of growing environmental crime in waste management forced European Union countries to adopt legislation to curb waste shipments to poor countries.

Unfortunately, proper enforcement of such provisions has been lacking, Greenpeace says.

In July 2009, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) published the report, “Transnational trafficking in West Africa,” in which it identifies trafficking in persons, drugs, oil, cigarettes, counterfeit medicines, toxic waste and electronic waste as posing a serious threat to security and development.

Greenpeace says that it is “not possible to document at EU level what specific kind of hazardous and problematic waste is shipped across boundaries, because 40-50 per cent of waste shipped outside the EU is defined simply as ‘other waste.’ However, the nature of such waste is largely unknown.”

But Greenpeace concludes by saying, “It is likely that most waste shipments result in environmental and public health crimes in receiving countries.”

Greenpeace says that the UN must carry out an independent assessment on the alleged dumping of toxic and radioactive waste in Somalia, particularly in the area of the port of Eel Ma’aan.

It also calls upon the EU to implement its own toxic waste prevention measures, which are one of the pillars of the EU waste policy.

It particularly singles out the Italian government, which it says “must create a strong co-ordination among all the investigative authorities (Procura della Repubblica) which have been, and still are, working on the issue of toxic and radioactive waste trade, to identify and neutralise the network of people and enterprises managing the illegal waste trade shipped to developing countries (and possibly dumped into the sea) with the help of criminal networks and the support of state civil servants.”

“Banning shipments of hazardous waste for disposal to the poorest countries is a laudable achievement,” Greenpeace said, referring to EU adoption of the 1989 Basel Convention, which was ratified by most EU states by 1998. “Yet large amounts of waste are shipped from Europe and the US to Africa and Asia on a daily basis,” it said, noting that most are illegal shipments of electronic or e-waste, such as computers, cell phones and television sets.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that the EU generates 8.7 million tonnes of e-waste a year and that African countries, primarily Nigeria and Ghana, “run the risk of becoming the rubbish dumps of the planet.”

“Lack of enforcement, control and data collection on EU waste exports is common in all member states for the very simple reason that illegal waste shipments to poor countries save a lot of money for both business and governmental agencies in charge of monitoring the implementation of EU waste legislation,” Greenpeace said.

It urged the EU to implement its own toxic waste prevention measures.

A chapter of the 37-page report is devoted to Somalia and the release to Greenpeace of an Italian investigation into the suspected dumping of radioactive and other toxic waste at Eel Ma’an from 1990 to 1997 in an alleged deal between Italian businesses and local warlords.

Investigations

The inquiry was eventually dropped for lack of evidence because the authorities were unable to inspect the site.

The UK-based Financial Times newspaper said that in 2005, Giancarlo Marocchino, a businessman at the centre of the investigation, testified before a parliamentary inquiry into the deaths of two Italian journalists in Mogadishu and denied involvement in dumping.

Source:http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke

THE PLIGHT OF DISABLED CHILDREN IN SOMALILAND

HARGESIA, 17 June 2010 (IRIN) - Children with disabilities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland should be given priority in education, livelihood and health policies, child rights activists said on 16 June, during a ceremony marking the Day of the African Child.

“The physical environment [access to schools and hospitals], attitudes of people and lack of public awareness and sensitization are the real barriers to the development of these children and not their impairments,” said Ali Jama Hassan of the Disability Action Network (DAN), the largest NGO supporting children with physical and/or psychological disabilities.

The theme for the ceremony was Planning and Budgeting for the Wellbeing of the Child: A Collective Responsibility.

“Policies on children with disabilities are not a priority in the country,” Hassan told IRIN. “Some of the change we are looking for is the mainstreaming of the needs of children with disabilities in education, healthcare and livelihoods.”

Ettie Higgins, chief of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) field office in Hargeisa, described the situation of children in Somaliland as “critical”.

“There are several thousand children living in Somaliland with physical and psychological disabilities - but only very limited facilities are available to cater for their needs,” she said. “For example, deaf children come from as far as Mogadishu [Somalia’s capital] to attend the Hargeisa School for the Deaf, since these facilities are unavailable [there]."

Somalia’s infant and maternal mortality rates are among the world’s highest, with the main causes of death being diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and respiratory infections.

“Access to basic services such as primary education, proper healthcare, and safe drinking water is still a challenge in many areas,” Higgins said. “In such an environment, children living with disabilities are often further marginalized by communities in the effort to just sustain lives, and their special needs are not addressed, and they are not given the opportunity to contribute to society.”

This sense of responsibility, Higgins said, should be ingrained in various planning and budgeting initiatives for the welfare of Somali children, “and this especially should also include those children most marginalized - including orphans and vulnerable children, as well as those living with disabilities".

According to Hassan, Somaliland’s constitution denies people with physical or psychological disabilities the right to run for public office, “a clause we have been fighting to have removed from the books”.

Accurate data on the number of children with disabilities in Somaliland is not available, but DAN estimates that at least 10 percent of children in the country have some form of disability.

Hodan Mohammed, 30, mother of two – one of whom is disabled – said she was attending the Day of the African Child ceremony in the hope that her child would in future be treated as any other “normal” child.


FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=89514

Global Voices : Rain in a Dry Land

Follow two Somali Bantu families, transported by relief agencies from years of civil war and refugee life to Springfield, Massachusetts and Atlanta, Georgia. They confront racism, poverty, and 21st-century culture shock as they try to survive in a new country and create a safe haven for their war-torn families. Their poetry, humor, and amazing resilience show us our own world through new eyes.


http://video.pbs.org/video/1513336151/

THE ECONOMIST: SHOULD FOREIGNERS INTERVENE IN SOMALIA?

FOR: After 20 years, Somalia remains the world's most failed state and recently things have got worse. Thus the motion should not be to stop foreign intervention, but rather to do it better.
...

To blame external actors for Somalia's troubles would also ignore how its squabbling, venal, selfish and incompetent leaders have squandered many opportunities to restore some semblance of stability and order. The TFG is only the latest example. It wasted enormous and genuine goodwill by failing to meaningfully reach out and negotiate political deals with clans that control and administer territory. Ministers chosen solely for their clan affiliation failed to deliver those clans. Instead of building alliances with local administrations, the president and most ministers preferred to jet round the world to ask for additional assistance to build capacity and furnish services they are in no position to provide. Protected by AMISOM, the government has even neglected to put its own security in order. Government forces remain badly led and appallingly organised. Because of corruption in both the security services and other ministries, soldiers were not paid or fed. In frustration, the international community has taken over those responsibilities, but not surprisingly many troops have very little loyalty to the government.

The government's disorder is compounded by lack of international unity. The principal international actors—the UN, AU, EU, League of Arab States, the United States and other major donors—do not have a clearly articulate or agreed plan on how to help the TFG and restore order and stability in Somalia. Because of this they lack similar priorities, often do not coordinate their activities and do not speak with one voice. This sends mixed signals to the TFG and allows ministers to pick and choose from separate initiatives.

...

There is also no political will for another multi-year peace process. The challenge then is to increase the effectiveness of the TFG and prioritise a political over a security strategy. The TFG can be the nucleus of a much more devolved and federal state that does not threaten other clan interests and local administrations but provides a framework for cooperation and mutual benefit. The international community could and should help shape the incentive structures for this evolution, with visionary and unified leadership and targeted and conditioned assistance.


AGAINST: Foreigners should not intervene in Somalia because international efforts will galvanise the radicals and prolong Somalia's suffering.
...
The international community can help them in two ways. First, the United States and Europe must, immediately, restore funding for humanitarian assistance to Somalia. Food relief may indeed be providing a marginal source of funding to Al-Shabaab, but it is a lifeline to some 3.4m desperate people, and the single visible signpost that the West cares at all about the suffering in Somalia. The decision to cut off most aid will cost lives and will radicalise the population against us. Second, the United States should continue to launch strategic counter-terror strikes against foreign terrorist targets in Somalia. The September 2009 strike against an Al-Qaeda operative, Saleh Ali Nabhan, is a perfect model. Conducted in a remote rural location without civilian casualties, it stirred not a hint of public protest. It is a firm clue that the locals do not object to sensible international assistance in ridding Somalia of foreign parasites attempting to exploit the country's conflict—as long as the innocent aren't caught up in the crossfire.

FOR MORE: http://www.economist.com/debate/days/view/529

FORGOTTEN CHILDREN OF WAR

Mogadishu: Awil Salah Osman prowls the streets of this shattered city, looking like so many other boys, with ripped-up clothes, thin limbs and eyes eager for attention and affection. But Awil is different in two notable ways: he is shouldering a fully automatic, fully loaded Kalashnikov assault rifle; and he is working for a military that is substantially armed and financed by the United States.



CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO ON SOMALI CHILD SOILDERS :-(


For More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/africa/14somalia.html?ref=africa

WE CAN'T TURN OUR BACKS ON THE NINE MILLION PEOPLE LIVING IN FEAR IN 'FAILED' SOMALIA

By Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra

Reading the daily news coming out of Somalia, one may be tempted to join those calling for disengagement from what many see as the “failed state” of Somalia.

After all, why support a country that for two decades now has failed to put its house in order? The answer to this somewhat baffling question lies in refocusing our attention on the people of Somalia.

While the debate continues as to whether or not Somalia is a failed state, the fact remains that nine million Somalis are living in that state.

This single fact must be the guiding force behind the world’s policies on Somalia. It is certainly the single most important element informing the African Union’s involvement in Somalia through its peacekeeping mission, Amisom.

We view all support to the Transitional Federal Government, which is part of our mandate, not as an end in itself, but as a means to assist the Somali people, the ultimate targets of our endeavours.

A partnership between the people of Somalia, the government of Somalia and the international community is really the most sustainable way to help Somalia. While the process continues of building the institutions that constitute the state, the Somali people must be assisted to live as normal a life as possible.

Why is this so critical?

The growing infiltration of foreign extremists into Somalia raises the spectre of an even more complex and more protracted conflict than at first appeared to be the case.

There is increasing evidence of the presence of foreign extremists in the country. Just this past week, a top al Qaeda commander was reported killed in Somalia.

There is rising concern that this phenomenon poses a threat to regional and international peace. But we need to understand that the bigger threat is first and foremost to the Somali people, who now live under constant threat to their lives.

The extremists’ menu for the people of Somalia keeps unfolding like a horror film, except that this is real life: Threats against and assassination of anyone they think does not support their agenda; assassination of journalists as a way to intimidate them into either silence or collaboration; the murder of civilians at their most vulnerable moments, be it students at a graduation ceremony, patients waiting for treatment at a hospital or people praying at the mosque.

To compound this, the extremists are denying the Somali people simple pleasures that other people around the world enjoy as a right, including music and dance, which the extremists say is taboo.

Their desecration of Somali shrines violates the people’s right to pay respect to their dead. Claiming to be the defenders of Islam, the extremists are committing acts that are totally against Islam and against Somali culture.

Their agenda? To make sure that Somalia degenerates into total disorder, the more easily to serve as a base for their international terrorist agenda. If we disengage from Somalia, we shall be leaving the people of Somalia to fight this international war on our behalf.

This is not the time to distance ourselves from Somalia. On the contrary, it is exactly the time to rally behind the people of that country who are faced with a double threat: from Somali extremists fighting to take power through terror and from international extremists bent on using Somalia to carry out an international terrorist agenda.

We owe it to the Somali people to help them deal with these challenges. So we must make them close partners in whatever we do, recognising that progress in Somalia will come only if the Somali people participate in the process to rebuild Somalia.

Issues of security constitute a major challenge to life especially in the capital, Mogadishu. Amisom recognises this.

One of the Mission’s major tasks is to assist in the provision of national security by strengthening the pillars of the state, which comprise the transitional government, the military and the police.

First, by providing support to the Transitional Federal Institutions in their efforts to stabilise Somalia and promote dialogue and reconciliation. Second, by providing training to both the police and the military.

Additionally, the Mission interacts directly with the Somali people by providing free purified drinking water as well as free medical services, treating around 12000 outpatients monthly.

All these activities complement Amisom’s support to the Djibouti peace process, an aspect of which is to encourage the TFG to reach out to other political players in Somalia. Earlier this year, Amisom was instrumental in the signing of the agreement between the TFG and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jammah in Addis Ababa.

These activities constitute the essence of the partnership between Amisom, the transitional government, and the people of Somalia.

Last week’s conference in Istanbul, focusing on development and reconstruction, was an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to help the people of Somalia.

Let us not entertain calls for disengagement of whatever type. For disengagement today will mean re-engagement tomorrow.

Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra is the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia

Source: The East African (Kenya)

Photo by Guuleed

The Sool, Sanaag and Cayn Conflict: Crimes against Humanity in Northern Regions of Somalia

LASANOD ONLINE:- Since October 2007, Somalia’s northern regions particularly in Sool, Sanag and Cayn (SSC) regions has been the site of an extremely violent conflict between the clans of the North-Western regions,supported by the Ethiopian regime and the clan of SSC.

The cause of the conflict

The first Phase

Every corner in the world is now aware of the political situation of Somalia that it is still without a central government almost two decades after the fall of the last one headed by Siad Barre. Because of the lack of a central state authority, the country has been left in a state of an unending low level conflict and at the same time it became vulnerable to external interference specially the neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya.
The intensity of the conflict is in various levels throughout the country; the fighting in the central regions, Benadir (Mogadishu) and the Juba areas are very high but the regions in the north-west and the north-east were (before 2007) sporadic and low. But things have changed since 2007.

The conflicts in all parts of Somalia are different in their specifics, but they do still share some important elements. Although in general these conflicts are driven by greed and political disintegration, the one conflict in progress today in the Northern part of the country particularly in the SSC regions has an additional characteristic, which goes beyond the known conflict in the south of the country, where few warlords or lately under the cover of religion fight on the control of either an airport, the Khat trade or a seaport. The conflict in the north is based on the following elements; first domination; second the annexation of a territory.

The first element Domination can be explained in this simple format; the north-western clan-family of Isaq organised under the panel of SNM would like to spearhead a secessionist state under its domination and force the other clans in the area to be part of it; second factor is the annexation of all the regions which were before 1960 under the British protectorate into their administration.

Although the SNM took the control of the north western regions in the year 1991, they did not forcibly intervene the other regions, because they had their own internal conflicts. The SNM is composed of various sub-clans that united themselves under the banner of Isaqism in order to oust the former military government headed by Siad Barre because they blamed that regime not according to its dictatorial governance but the believe that it was dominated by the Darod clan-family. After the military regime was toppled with the help of other armed organisations operating in the South of the country, the SNM militias turned their guns to each other. Some of the sub-clans immediately started to occupy some of the income generating premises such as the sea-ports and the airports. As an example the Habar Yonis occupied the Seaport of Berbera, which is not their traditional clan area. This has angered the Habar Awal, who see Berbera as their clan territory. This ignited a violent conflict between the two social groups, which at the end the Habar Yonis was defeated and forced back into Odwayne.

Another seriously fought spot was the airport in Hargeisa, where a sub-clan related to Habar Yonis occupied the airport. The first head of the SNM administration tolerated this occupation, because his sub-clan and the occupant of the airport belong to the alliance of Garxajis. But things did change after Mr. Mohamed Ibrahim Egal took the office as the head of the North-Western administration. He belonged to the Habar Awal clan. He began to force the group out of the airport. This fight spread through all the eastern regions starting from Hargeisa down to Buroa. This fight started in 1994 and lasted till the end of 1997. As a result the Garxajis accepted the defeat under the condition that they fully stand behind the secession as was declared in 1991 and hand the airport to the administration.

Second Phase

As the conflict between the sub-clans within the SNM administration seemed to be solved, they focused their attention to the other regions. Although the late head of the administration was not in a hurry to engage militarily the regions controlled by other clans, some of the war mongers within the SNM were pushing the administration to extend its control to non-isaq inhabited regions such as Sool, Sanaag, Cayn and certain areas in the Audal regions. But the main focus was on the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn.

This idea was escalated after these regions became part of the newly established regional administration of Puntland. All the traditional leaders of the Sool, Sanaag and Cayn regions signed the declaration of the newly formed regional administration.

The decision of joining Puntland was a well calculated move based on the political reality of the present day Somalia, where people find the family ties as a strong factor of unification and an option of finding a guarantee in the issues of stability and security.

The SNM led administration translated this move as a barrier to their ambitious project of becoming a separate state, independent from the rest of the country, therefore the newly crowned head of the administration Mr. Riyale vowed to bring these regions under his control by all means necessary.

In order to show the elite of Hargeisa that he means business, Riyale made a provocative visit to the city of Las Anod in the Sool region.

This visit ignited the first violent confrontation between the people of SSC and the SNM administration. A large number of the civilians were either killed or injured during the fight in the centre of the town. Riyale and his entourage were forced to retreat. He felt disgraced as head of an administration and vowed to revenge.

The administration in Hargeisa under Riyale began to mobilise the war machinery and using the propaganda that the world community expressed their willingness to recognise this “statelet” as Somaliland, if they could proof that their administration is functioning in all the regions of former British Somaliland protectorate.

The militia from the North-West occupied in October 2007 the city of Las Anod with the help of some of the locals, who were disenchanted by the administration of Puntland. This occupation has a devastating effect on the population of the area. There were over 80,000 inhabitants living in the city before the occupation. Over half of the population fled the city into the villages south of the city. The whole social infrastructure like schools and hospitals were affected.

The occupation force brought curfews and road blocks. People were imprisoned and tortured. Many of them were transported into the notorious prison in Mandera near Berbera. Shops and business sites were robbed. In other words the whole city life was brought into standstill.

However the propaganda machine of the administration in Hargeisa would like to sell an image that this breakaway region is making a remarkable progress towards peace and political stabilisation compared to the rest of the country.

But the reality is that this administration is conducting a war in these regions ranging from mass murder, clan cleansing and rape for the sole purpose of greed and political disintegration of the Somali people.

This administration has found an ally for its agenda – the Ethiopian regime of Mele Zenawe.

The Ethiopian regime would like to see Somalia disintegrated into small “state lets” like the ones in Puntland in the North-East and “Somaliland” in the North-West. Both administrations receive military assistance from Addis even though there is a UN arms embargo that prohibits other nations to bring weapons into Somalia. This is the reason why both administrations co-operate with the secret services of Mele Zenawe and never condemned the atrocities of the Ethiopian military conducted during its occupation in the Southern part of Somalia especially Mogadishu. In addition to that both administrations hand over any Somali suspected of supporting the Somali movements fighting against colonialism inside Ethiopia. Although Garowe and Hargeisa were denying in the past that they have any secret connections with the regime in Ethiopia the most recent incident in the Cayn region particularly Buhoodle and Widh-Widh brought this inhuman collaboration into the open.

The third Phase

It is unfortunate that the world organisations such as the known human rights bodies such as Amnesty International say and mention nothing about the atrocities conducted by the North-West administration and its Ethiopian ally in the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn in their reports. But simple statements like, “Tensions remained high in border areas claimed by the semi-autonomous Region of Somalia.” (Amnesty International Report 2010 - Somalia, 28 May 2010, available at: www.unhcr.org/refworld)

The reality is that the following crimes against humanity were committed in the recent events in Buhoodle, Widh-Widh, Bali-Hadhac and Las Anod: murder, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, rape, torture, destruction of properties, displacement of a large number of people from their homes, robbing and stealing of over 17 privately owned trucks and the disappearance of children under the age of 15.

According to M. Cherif Bassiouni the term crimes against humanity can be simply defined as “anything atrocious committed on a large scale”. Furthermore he specifies his definition that: (1) they refer to specific acts of violence against persons irrespective of whether the person is a national or non-national and irrespective of whether these acts are committed in time of war or time of peace, and (2) these acts must be the product of persecution against an identifiable group of persons irrespective of the make-up of that group or the purpose of the persecution. Such a policy can also be manifested by the “widespread or systematic” conduct of the perpetrators, which results in the commission of the specific crimes contained in the definition.” (Crimes against humanity, by M.Cherif Bassiouni, available at: www.crimesofwar.org).

Following to the above definition what took place on the 21st of May in Buhoodle, Widh-Widh, Bali-Harac and Las Anod could not be defined other than crimes against humanity. The militia from North-West and the military of Mele Zenawe did conduct a well co-ordinated atrocity simultaneously in the cities of Buhoodle and Widh-Widh. Both parties used in their assault mortars and heavy weapons in the areas populated by civilians. In Buhoodle alone the Ethiopians murdered over 14 people and seriously injured over 50 civilians, thousands of the inhabitants were displaced and fled the city by this indiscriminate shelling of the city. In the same day of the 21st of May 2010 the Militia from the North-West entered the city of Widh-Widh and opened fire indiscriminately killing the following people in their first assault:

(1) Hariir Mohamed Hoosh (2) Farah Isse Mire (3) Son of Gagaale Ali Hodan (4) Farah Miir (5) Ali Naafto

In addition to the murdered innocent civilians over 20 people were seriously injured and through their shelling many inhabited homes were destroyed. A large number of the population fled into the country side, housing themselves under the trees and the caves nearby mountains, where they have to endure a heavy rainfall and cold wind during the night. Some of the residence particularly the young people began to mobilise and fight back. This resistance has caused some damage to the militia from the North-West and forced them to retreat and move partially out of the town centre. On their way back to the Barracks outside Las Anod this militia murdered the following civilians in the village of Bali-Hadhac, which lies few kilometres east of Widh-Widh

(1) Sahra Hareed haji Isse (a mother)

(2) Said Ali Haji Said

(3) Omar Yaquub Ali

(4) Farhan Muse

The following people were seriously injured in the same village:

(1) Mohamed Isse Adan

(2) Son of Baruud

(3) Saleeban Farah Mohamed

(4) Farah Warsame Ismail

It is time that the African Union as well as all the other international organisations realise that it is time to hold an account to the perpetrators whether they are dressed as Ethiopians, North-West militias or Puntland militias of the atrocities conducted in these regions since October 2007. The most devastating thing that occurred during the days of the assault is that a high ranking officer from Puntland offered an apology to the Ethiopians of what happened in Buhoodle, instead of sending condolences to the families of the innocent people slaughtered by an army from another country.( By Nasr Ibn Othmann , May 26, 2010 in Wardheernews).

This crisis has brought the people of SSC together and gave them the opportunity to rely on their own resources and bring the perpetrators to justice any time soon. Furthermore the international organisations as well as the TFG, Puntland and “Somaliland” administrations have to accept the demands of these regions and take serious to the declarations of their traditional leaders, if the objective of the international organisations and their counterparts in Somalia are to bring stability and peace to the so-called peaceful zones of the Northern part of the country.

Written by Ahmed F. Hadhi

ahmedhadhi@hotmail.com