The newly-elected President of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. He was a former leader of the Union of Islamic Courts. His election has been welcomed by the African Union and other international bodies.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Posted: 2/2/2009 5:26:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
MOGADIHSU (Sh. M.Network)-At least 39 Somali civilians have been killed by AMISOM troops after a roadside bomb targeted their convoy in Maka al-Mukarama road in Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said on Monday.
“We counted 39 bodies of innocent civilians killed deliberately by AMISOM troops from Uganda,” Said Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaweye, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu.
“We condemn this brutal action and also we condemn those who were behind the explosion, he said.
But the spokesman of AMISOM peacekeepers in Mogadishu , Maj. Ba-Huko Barigye denied the allegations.
“I am saying the deputy mayor is very wrong. He has got the wrong information,” he said.
“Our convoy was passing along Maka al-Mukarama road and an explosion was detonated. It slightly damaged our vehicle and one of our soldiers was also injured, and of course this is what we always say, they excuse they are targeting AMISOM, but the people who have died are all Somali civilians, who have nothing, what so ever to do with AMISOM,” Mr. Barigye said.
“I saw 12 dead people killed with bullets on a passenger bus standing in Maka al-Mukarama road,” said witness Mohamed Hussein.
Ambulance drivers said they took 25 dead people from the scene.
Ahmed Dirie Ali, the spokesman of Hawiye Traditional Elders condemned the killing of the civilians.
On 24 of January 2009, 17 civilians were killed in a bus after a suicide car bomb aimed at the AMISOM base blew up before reaching the target.
Ahmednor Mohamed Farah
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UN chief: UN ready to help new Somali government
Posted: 2/2/2009 6:14:00 AM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
UNITED NATIONS (Sh. M. Network) - UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said that the United Nations is ready to support the new Somali government in its efforts for national reconciliation and the establishment of effective security.
Ban, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, congratulates the new Somali government on the successful conclusion of the presidential elections, and commended the Somali political leaders for the major step they have taken, through this process, toward national reconciliation.
"The United Nations has supported this process and stands ready to help the new government in its efforts toward national reconciliation and the establishment of effective security," the statement said.
"The United Nations will provide strong logistical support" for the African Union's peacekeeping force, known as the AMISON Force," and help develop Somali security force," the statement said.
"The Security Council will decide in the months ahead, the appropriateness of a UN peacekeeping operation to support the Somali political, economic, and social development," it noted.
"The secretary-general urges President Sheikh Sheikh Ahmed and the new government to reach out to all Somali people and parties, including those who are still outside of the Djibouti process," the statement said. "It is important that these efforts should have a tangible effect in improving the security environment for the Somali people and humanitarian actors."
Somali parliament elected the new president on Friday in a bid to put an end to the situation that the Horn of Africa nation has no central government since Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.-Xinhua
Somali leader wants united front against extremism
Posted: 2/1/2009 6:31:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
ADDIS ABABA(Sh. M. Network)-Somalia's new president called for a united front against violent extremists and signaled his intent to try to bring together the country's feuding Islamic factions, according to an interview published Sunday.
Moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed was sworn in Saturday and faces the daunting task of leading a Western-backed government that wields little control over a country that has suffered nearly 20 years of violence and anarchy.
"I say it is now high time to achieve national unity, forget our differences, unify our ranks and confront those who commit violence," Sharif was quoted as saying by the English-language Saudi Gazette.
Ahmed was chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that ran Mogadishu for six months in 2006 before Ethiopian soldiers drove them from power.
The group's extremist breakaway militia, al-Shabab, has now taken much of the country, forcing lawmakers to meet outside of the country. The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terror organization with links to al-Qaida.
Al-Shabab did not recognize the last government and also disapproves of Sharif, but his election raises hopes that he will bring many of Somalia's Islamic factions into a more inclusive government. The U.S. government welcomed Sharif as leader Saturday and said that he had worked diligently on reconciliation efforts in Somalia.
Sharif was attending the African Union summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday and holding a series of meetings with other African leaders. He did not speak to reporters.
"We'll try to negotiate with them," he said. "We'll try to bring them on board. We'll use the carrot-and-stick. We'll try to influence them — or we'll beat them."
The last president resigned in December after failing to pacify the country during his four-year tenure.
The arid and impoverished Horn of Africa nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since clan-based militias overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.
Pirates prey on international shipping freely from Somalia's lawless shores, and analysts fear an extremist Islamic administration could become a haven for international terrorists.
There have been more than a dozen previous peace efforts and three previous governments were formed, but they never managed to take effective control over most of the country.
New Somali president sees positive U.S. role
Posted: 2/1/2009 12:47:00 PM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
CAIRO (Sh. M. Network) - The newly elected president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, said in an interview published on Sunday that he saw the United States as a positive influence for peace in his country.
Ahmed led the Islamic Courts Union before the United States backed an Ethiopian invasion meant to drive the Islamists out of power. In May 2008, Ahmed criticized the United States for a U.S. airstrike that killed an Islamic leader in central Somalia.
The last Ethiopian troops left Somalia last month and a new U.S. administration under President Barack Obama took office in Washington on January 20.
"One can say that the U.S. position toward Somalia has become honest... We think that the American view of Somalia is now positive," Ahmed told the Egyptian newspaper el-Shorouk.
"In the framework of the Djibouti negotiations, America has become a force which supports peace," he added.
The Djibouti negotiations were the U.N.-backed process which helped bring about the election of Ahmed on Saturday.
AU hails election of new president in Somalia
Posted: 2/1/2009 6:27:00 AM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
MOGADISHU (Sh. M. Network) - The African Union (AU) has congratulated and welcomed the election of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the Islamist opposition leader, as Somalia's new president in a vote by Somali parliamentarians meeting in Djibouti City on Saturday.
In a congratulation letter to the new Somali leader received here, Nicolas Bwakira, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, congratulated the new president on his new role.
"It is my greatest pleasure to convey to you, on behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, my warmest congratulations on the occasion of your election as the president of the Republic of Somalia," said the letter.
Ahmed was elected as president after a vote in the enlarged Somali parliament which included nearly two hundreds new MPs from the opposition movement led by Ahmed.
Bwakira said the AU is pleased to have been working with Ahmed's opposition movement, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), on the peace talks in Djibouti which resulted in the power-sharing deal signed last year. "The African Union is very proud to have been working very closely with your organization for the last several months and to have its troops on the ground to assist your country in its quest for peace and stability," said Bwakira.
He expressed satisfaction over the new president's
"commitment to forming a Government of National Unity" as well as his "determination to invite all those outside the peace process to join".
"I would like to reaffirm the commitment of the African Union to continuing to support your efforts by maintaining and increasing AMISOM troops with the support of the international community," Bwakira said in the letter.
Ahmed will represent his country in AU's 12th summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Sunday-Xinhua
US government welcomes efforts to pacify Somali capital
Posted: 1/31/2009 3:15:00 AM
Shabelle: SOMALIA
NAIROBI (Sh. M. Network)-)The United States government has lauded the ongoing efforts intended to protect any further violence in the Somali capital after the full withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the city and other parts of Somalia.
“We commend the efforts of religious and traditional leaders who have been working to discourage violence and chaos in Mogadishu and we encourage their continued efforts to support the AMISOM peacekeepers who remain in Somalia” a press statement from the US embassy in Nairobi said Friday.
“We are heartened by the return of some residents to their homes and the decrease in violence in the city since the tragic January 24 suicide bombings” the press statement carried.
Al-Shabaab and other extremist groups have long cited the presence of Ethiopian troops as their reason for inciting and carrying out violence in Somalia.
“With the departure of the Ethiopian troops, we hope to see an end to the violence and the realization of the goal of having Somalis, including the political leadership, return to Mogadishu” the release added.
The statement said that the United States government was fully encouraged by the commitment of the MPs in the newly-enlarged Parliament to achieving a rapid and peaceful presidential succession.
The US is one of the major donors of war-torn Somalia which has been under-going bloody clan-related civil war for nearly two decades. Also the US government has been playing an active role in the political process to help stabilize Somalia since then. APA
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