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Somalia: The Other (Hidden) War for Oil

Carl Bloice, Axis of Logic

May 5, 2007, 00:46

The U.S. bombing of Somalia took place while the World Social Forum was underway in Kenya and three days before a large anti-war action in Washington, January 27. Nunu Kidane, network coordinator for Priority Africa Network (PAN) was present in Nairobi, and after returning home asked out loud how 'to explain the silence of the US peace movement on Somalia?' Writing in the San Francisco community newspaper Bay View, she suggested one reason I think valid: 'Perhaps US-based organizations don't have the proper analytical framework from which to understand the significance of the Horn of Africa region. Perhaps it is because Somalia is largely seen as a country with no government and in perpetual chaos, with 'fundamental Islamic' forces not deserving of defense against the military attacks by US in search of 'terrorists'.' To that I would add: the major U.S. media's role in the lead up to the invasion and the suffering now taking place in the Horn of Africa. 'The carnage and suffering in Somalia may be the worst in more than a decade -- but you'd hardly know it from your nightly news,' wrote Andrew Cawthorne from Nairobi for Reuters last week. Amy Goodman's Democracy Now recently examined ABC's, NBC's and CBS's coverage of Somalia in the evening newscasts since the invasion. ABC and NBC had not mentioned the war at all. CBS mentioned the war once, dedicating a whole three sentences to it. This, despite the fact that there have been more casualties in this war than in the recent fighting in Lebanon.

While the major U.S. print media has not completely ignored the conflict, its reporting is even shallower than its reporting was prior to the invasion of Iraq. As recently as last week, Reuters was still maintaining that Ethiopian troops had invaded its neighbor with the 'tacit' support of the United States. At least the New York Times has taken to describing it as 'covert American support.' Both characterizations obscure the truth. The attack on Somalia was preplanned and would never have taken place without being approved by the White House. We now know that the Bush Administration gave the Ethiopian government the go ahead to ignore its own imposed ban on weapons purchases from North Korea in order to gear up for the battle ahead. U.S. military forces took part in the assault.

'US political and military alliance with Ethiopia - which openly violated international law in its aggression towards Somalia, is destabilizing the Horn region and begins a new shift in the way the US plans to have permanent and active military presence in Africa,' wrote Kadane.

The planning for the invasion actually began last summer when the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of the Somali government. It, too, was supposed to be a slam dunk. The U.S.- Ethiopian version of shock and awe was to swiftly bring about the desired regime change, installing the Washington-favored, government- in-exile of President Abdullahi Yusuf. Only a few days after their troops entered the country, Ethiopian officials said their forces lacked the resources to stay in Somalia and they would be leaving soon. At one point, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared - Bushlike - that the invaders' mission had been successfully accomplished and two-thirds of his troops were returning home. That turned out not to be true. Three months later the Ethiopians are still in Somalia committing what numerous observers are calling horrendous war crimes.

'The obviously indiscriminate use of heavy artillery in the capital has killed and wounded hundreds of civilians, and forced over 200,000 more to flee for their lives.' Walter Lindner, German Ambassador to Somalia, wrote to the country's acting president last week. Displaced persons are 'at great risk of being subjected to looting, extortion and rape - including by uniformed troops' at a various "checkpoints."

"Cholera - endemic to the region during the rainy season - is beginning to cut a swathe through the displaced,' he continued, adding that attempts by international groups to offer assistance to the victims are being obstructed by militias who are stealing supplies, demanding 'taxes' and threatening relief workers.

On April 3, the Associated Press reported that a senior European Union security official had sent an email to the head of the EU delegation for Somalia warning that 'Ethiopian and Somali military forces there may have committed war crimes and that donor countries could be considered complicit if they do nothing to stop them. I need to advise you that there are strong grounds to believe that the Ethiopian government and the transitional federal government of Somalia and the African Union (peacekeeping) Force Commander, possibly also including the African Union Head of Mission and other African Union officials have, through commission or omission, violated the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," the e-mail said.

In the meantime, the Bush Administration has worked hard to raise troops from nearby cooperative states to take over the job. Promises were made, but with one exception, remain unfulfilled. In a telephone conversation, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni promised President Bush to provide between 1,000-2,000 troops to protect Somalia's transitional government and train its troops. The Ugandans arrived but are said to have been largely confined to their quarters, refraining from taking part in the effort to crush the opposition. Meanwhile, the 'Transitional Government' and Ethiopian forces have been reported shelling civilian areas in the capital from the government compound they are supposedly guarding.

None of the reporters on the scene appear to have explored the question of why the other African governments have failed to send troops but I think the answer is obvious. They would be called 'peacekeepers' but would be called upon to inject themselves into a civil conflict on the side of an unpopular puppet government, something they are loathed to do.

Three months ago, I wrote in this space that 'If the unfolding events in Iraq are any indication, what started out as a swift invasion and occupation could turn out to be a long and widening war.' That was an understatement. As of this writing, about 1,300 people are reported to have perished in the fighting, over 4,300 wounded and nearly 400,000 have fled their homes.

Refugees trying to cross the Red Sea are reported drowning off the Somali coast.

"There is a massive tragedy unfolding in Mogadishu, but from the world's silence, you would think it's Christmas," the head of a Mogadishu political think- tank told Cawthorne. 'Somalis, caught up in Mogadishu's worst violence for 16 years, are painfully aware of their place on the global agenda.'

"Nobody cares about Somalia, even if we die in our millions," Cawthorne was told by Abdirahman Ali, a 29- year-old father- of-two who works as a security guard in Mogadishu.

And, just as in Iraq, the U.S. supported forces - the small army of the enthroned and very unpopular government and the invaders - are caught up in a civil war, set in motion by the invasion and occupation. In addition to the forces loyal to the overthrown Islamist government, the regime in power is opposed by the Hawiye, one of the country's largest clans. A spokesman for the clan recently called upon 'the Somali people, wherever it exists, to unity in the fight against the Ethiopians. The war is not between Ethiopia and our tribe, it is between Ethiopia and all Somali people,' he said.

"For the major [world] leaders, there is a tremendous embarrassment over Somalia," Michael Weinstein, a US expert on Somalia at Purdue University told Reuters. "They have committed themselves to supporting the interim government -- a government that has no broad legitimacy, a failing government.

This is the heart of the problem. ... But Western leaders can't back out now, so of course they have 100% no interest in bringing global attention to Somalia. There is no doubt that Somalia has been shoved aside by major media outlets and global leaders, and the Somali Diaspora is left crying in the wilderness."

Last week, during what was described as a lull in the fight, Ethiopian soldiers were moving from house to house in the capital Mogadishu, taking hundreds of men away by the truckloads to an uncertain fate. Meanwhile, the traumatized residents of the rubble strewn city were reported gathering up bodies, many of them rotting, for burial. 'Most of the displaced civilians are encamped on Mogadishu's outskirts, where the scenes are medieval,' reported The Economist last week. 'People lack water, food and shelter. Cholera has broken out. The sick sometimes have to pay rent even to sit in the shade of trees. Things will get worse with the rains, which have started. Aid agencies say people will soon start dying in large numbers. Some reckon Somalia is facing its biggest humanitarian crisis, worse than in the early 1990s, when the state collapsed amid famine and slaughter.'

Martin Fletcher wrote in the London Times, April 26, about five days he spent in Mogadishu, during which he canvassed many ordinary Somalis. 'Overwhelmingly, they loathed a government they consider a puppet of the hated Ethiopians.'

Last week the Washington Post reported that interviews it conducted in Ethiopia and testimony given to diplomats and human rights groups, 'paint a picture of a nation that jails its citizens without reason or trial, and tortures many of them -- despite government claims to the contrary.'

'Such cases are especially troubling because the U.S. government, a key Ethiopian ally, has acknowledged interrogating terrorism suspects in Ethiopian prisons, where some detainees were sent after being arrested in connection with Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia in December,' said the Post story. 'There have been no reports that those jailed have been tortured.' The following day, the paper reported, 'More than 200 FBI and CIA agents have set up camp in the Sheraton Hotel here in Ethiopia's capital and have been interrogating dozens of detainees -- including a U.S. citizen -- picked up in Somalia and held without charge and without attorneys in a secret prison somewhere in this city, according to Ethiopian and U.S. officials who say the interrogations are lawful.'

History will probably record the Ethiopian government's decision to team up with the U.S. Administration for regime change in Somalia as the height of folly. The country has enough problems at home. This was brought into sharp relief April 24, when forces of an ethnic- Somali separatist group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, raided an oil exploration facility, killing 74 people, including nine employees of a Chinese oil company. 'As Much as China's - and indeed America's - ally Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, might like to be on top of security across the Horn, he is not always able to deliver,' said the Financial Times editorially April 26. 'His army is the region's most powerful conventional force. But under his rule, Ethiopia is fraying again around the edges. Armed separatist groups are now changing tactics. Unable to match the army on the battlefield, the Ogaden National Liberation Front has chosen the spectacular to draw attention to its cause. Only recently, a separatist group in the north tried something similar, by kidnapping a group of British diplomats.'

'Both horrific events can be attributed partly to fallout from Ethiopia's messy intervention in neighboring Somalia,' said the newspaper. 'Initial battles last December were decisively in Ethiopia's favor. But like the Americans in Iraq, the Ethiopians in Somalia were ill prepared for the aftermath. A growing insurgency has delayed the withdrawal of their troops, exposing the government to attacks at home. It has also inflamed tension among ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia, who fight for the ONLF.

'Ironically, the Chinese workers killed near Ethiopia's border with Somalia may have been victims more of Washington's policy in the region than of Beijing's. The US has actively backed Mr. Meles's Somali adventure. In doing so it has undermined multilateral efforts to bring about peace.'

'There are two main questions that Colonel Yusuf's and Ethiopia's western backers should now ask themselves,' said the Guardian April 26. 'What was gained by encouraging the Ethiopian army to topple the Islamic Courts? The US allowed Ethiopia to arm itself with North Korean weapons and also participated in the turkey shoot by using gunships against suspected insurgents hiding in villages near the Kenyan border. Washington was convinced that the Islamic Courts were sheltering foreign terror suspects. But how many did they get and what price have Somalis paid?'

'America can be more heavily criticized for subordinating Somali interests to its own desire to catch a handful of al- Qaeda men who may (or may not) have been hiding in Mogadishu,'said The Economist. 'None has been caught, many innocents have died in air strikes, and anti-American feeling has deepened. Western, especially European, diplomats watching Somalia from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya to the south, have sounded the alarm. Their governments have done little.' Chatham House, a British think tank of the independent Royal Institute of International Affairs, has concluded, "In an uncomfortably familiar pattern, genuine multilateral concern to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Somalia has been hijacked by unilateral actions of other international actors -- especially Ethiopia and the United States -- following their own foreign policy agendas.'

Actually, there is no more reason to believe the Bush Administration promoted this war, in clear violation of international law and the UN Charter, 'to catch a handful of al-Qaeda men,' than that the invasion of Iraq was to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. What has unfolded in over the past three months, flows from much larger strategic calculations in Washington. The invasion and occupation of Somalia coincided with the Pentagon's now operational plan to build a new 'Africa Command to deal with what the Christian Science Monitor dubbed 'Strife, oil, and Al Qaeda.'

When I first visited this subject shortly after the invasion, I quoted a 10 percent figure for the proportion of petroleum our country takes in from Africa and noted that some experts were saying the U.S. will need to up that percentage to 25 by 2010. Wrong again. Last week came the news that the U.S. now imports more oil from Africa than the Middle East, with Nigeria, Angola and Algeria providing nearly one-fifth of it -- more than from Saudi Arabia. While the rulers in Addis Ababa claim the invasion was a preemptive attack on a threatening Somalia and the Bush Administration says giving a wink and a nod to the attack was only a chance to capture a few terrorist holed up in Somalia, for most of the media and diplomatic observers outside the U.S. it was another strategic move to secure positioning in the region where there is a lot of oil. On file are plans - put on hold amid continuing conflicts - for nearly two-thirds of Somalia's oil fields to be allocated to the U.S. oil companies Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips. It was recently reported that the U.S. - backed prime minister of Somalia has proposed enactment of a new oil law to encourage the return of foreign oil companies to the country. Salim Lone, spokesperson for the United Nation mission in Iraq in 2003, now a columnist for The Daily Nation in Kenya, recently told Democracy Now: 'the prime minister's attempt to lure Western oil companies is on a par with his crying wolf about al-Qaeda at every turn. Every time you interview a Somalia official, the first thing you hear is al-Qaeda and terrorists. They're using that. No one believes it. No one believes it at all, because all independent reports say the contrary.'

I spoke with Kidane last week and she allowed that the situation in Somalia might seem complex to many in the peace and social justice movements. However, she said it is impossible to overlook the parallel with the situation in the Iraq. 'It's aggression, that is undeniable, and the same language is being used to justify it,' she said. Kidane is on target in insisting that the movements for peace and justice in the U.S. - and elsewhere - must take up the issue. The unlawful U.S.- Ethiopian invasion and occupation of that country and the accompanying human suffering and human rights abuses constitute a new - and still mostly hidden - war in many ways similar to that in Iraq. And, waged for the same reason.

[BC Editorial Board member Carl Bloice is a writer in San Francisco, a member of the National Coordinating Committee of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism and formerly worked for a healthcare union.]

Sources: http://uruknet.info/?p=m32671&s1=h1
http://www.blackcommentator.com/228/228_left_margin_somalia_war_oil.html
 


Time foreign forces quit Somalia

By * Prof Jagdish P. Sharma - Syndicate Features

Somalia has caught the attention of the international community as more than 70 innocent nomadic herdsmen were killed when a US gunship hunting Al-Qaeda suspects ‘mistakenly’ attacked a village in Southern Somalia. The US found, no “wanted” Al-Qaeda terrorists, dead or alive in the village though the attack was in line with the speculation that after Afghanistan and Iraq, it would be Somalia’s turn to face the US fury. For the last few years, Washington’s Somalia policy has hinged on the hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorists, and particularly the men wanted for killing 225 people in the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam and the 2002 attack on Israelis in Mombasa. The US January 2007 air strikes on Somalia were specifically aimed at three men – Fazul Abdallah Mohamed, Abu Taha al-Sudani, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan.5

Before we proceed o examine the latest crisis situation in Somalia it would be better to understand the historical background of the developments that had led to the American and Ethiopian military attack on Somalia and its occupation by Ethiopians recently. A Republic in the Horn of Africa, Somali Democratic Republic was formed by the British Somaliland on July I, 1960. It is essentially a pastoral country, with 80% of the people dependent on livestock. Half of its population is nomadic.

In 1963, Somalia severed diplomatic relations with Britain, when it failed to induce Britain to grant separate independence to the largely Somali populated Northern Frontier district of Kenya. In 1964 hostilities broke out with Ethiopia over migration of nomadic Somali’s into that country, but a ceasefire was arranged. As a 100 percent Muslim population in the East African Continent, Somalia under President Aden Abdullah Osman was chosen as a venue for the Sixth World Muslim Conference. In 1967, Dr. Abdi Rashid Ali Simarke was elected the President. Nine years of democracy in Somalia came to an end when President

Rashid was assassinated by one of his bodyguards on October 15, 1969. Six days later (October 21, 1969) Major General Mohamed Siad Barre took over power. He immediately suspended the constitution and declared Somalia as Somalia Democratic Republic. The country witnessed a bloody counter coup in 1991.

The year 1992 saw one of the worst famines in Somalia’s history. Ravaged by civil war, the country was in a state of anarchy. Starvation threatened the majority of the population. More than 800,000 people moved into Kenya and other neighbouring countries. Relief efforts by the international organizations were hampered by battles between rival clan factions. Neighbouring Djibouti tried to end the uncertainty but failed. A new coalition government under the General Muhammed Farah Aidid, however, agreed to UN military presence to back up relief efforts to help famine victims.

On December 2, 1992, the US launched “Operation Restore Hope” landing thousands of US marines on the Mogadishu beaches. In May 1993, the operation was taken over by the United Nations and renamed the Mission as UNOSOM. In May 1993, Americans wanted to arrest General Farah Aidid but failed to do so. In the military operation a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down and 18 American soldiers were killed. It signalled the withdrawal of American forces from Somalia.

After that for fifteen years Somalia had to remain without a central government. The warlords fought among themselves. A sense of despair and hopelessness led to the emergence of the Islamic Courts with some help from local businessmen. These courts managed to establish some sense of law and order.

Ten years after the collapse of the military government, a Transitional National government was formed in August 2000. Neither the US nor the EU tried to strengthen its position. At the end of its three year term, a new Transitional Federal Government was established in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi in October 2004 with full support from everyone including the US.

Somalia’s current phase of chaos is not simply the latest episode in a civil conflict that had dragged on since 1991. It is also the direct result of a rogue CIA operation that went wrong. After September 11, 2001 (9/11), Washington did a policy u-turn by recruiting as bounty-hunters the very warlords its forces had fought during the 1993 “Black Hawk Down” battle. In return for suitcases of cash, the warlords handed over a number of religious radical suspects, who were ferried on rendition flights to the new US base at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.

A Christian led country with a substantial Muslim population, Ethiopia has a deep fear of Islamic radicalism in the Horn of Africa. Just before Christmas 2006 Washington gave Ethiopia green signal to invade Somalia. The offensive led to the fall of the ‘Islamic Court’ government. The American neocons gloated over what they saw as a victory for the good guys in the war on terror. Ethiopia’s invasion and the US strikes have made heroes of the Somali radicals across the world and had thus further internationalized the conflict in the Horn.

The Los Angeles Times wrote, “US intervention in Somalia could have been prompted in part by the determination to protect the interests of US firms”. A special report in Oil and Gas Journal (2nd April, 1993) said, “Geologists have been speculating about the possibility of oil in Somalia since the last century, but it took the US military “Operation Restore Hope” to bring the possibility to popular attention. The widespread notion is that US troops were sent to Somalia to protect the interests of US Oil Companies, and their supposed huge oil finds”.

The recent American decision to create a new pentagon command covering Africa, known as Africom has a military logic. Like Roman emperor’s of old, Washington’s Caesars arbitrarily divide much of the world into Middle Eastern, European and Pacific domains. Now it is Africa’s turn with Gulf of Guinea countries including Nigeria and Angola projected to provide a quarter of US oil imports within a decade; with Islamic radicalist worries in Somalia and Horn of Africa, and with China prowling for resources and markets, the US plainly feels a second wind of change is blowing, calling for increased leverage in Africa. Africom’s advent follows a pattern of extraordinary military expansion under President George W. Bush including the Horn of Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa sums up the situation aptly thus: “Today Somalia ceases to exist as a viable state. This has led to the eventuality that, as the year 2007 began; Somalia put itself firmly at the top of the African agenda. Whereas in 1974 independent Africa counted on Somali support to achieve the goals of the African revolution, in 2007 Somalia needs the support of the rest of the African Continent, to achieve the goals of the African revolution.”

Undeniably, Somalia needs a government not made for them but by them. If the international community is sincere about helping Somalians, it should let them take initiatives to regain their statehood and national sovereignty. In short decide their own destiny freely, fearlessly and independently.

* By Prof Jagdish P. Sharma - The writer is Head of the African Studies, Delhi University

Source: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5518


Thank oil
May 3rd 2007
From the Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire

African growth is at its highest level in 35 years

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is likely to reach 6.8% this year, while output in the region's ten oil exporters is expected to hit double digits (and no less than 35% in Angola). The IMF’s April 2007 World Economic Outlook expects regional inflation to remain stable at 7%, excluding Zimbabwe, where the Fund--somewhat optimistically--expects prices to increase some 3,000% this year, well below the average of local private-sector forecasters, who are predicting a rate of nearer 8,000%.

According to the Fund 35 out of 44 Sub-Saharan countries will keep inflation below 7%, but budget and external balances (before grants) will come under pressure during the year as commodity prices, including oil, weaken slightly. As a result, the overall fiscal balance for the Sub-Saharan region will be fractionally in the red (a deficit of 0.25% of GDP), while the region’s terms of trade will deteriorate some 5%, with oil producers likely to experience of fall of 10% as commodity prices ease. The terms of trade of the region's 36 oil importers will worsen marginally (deteriorating by 1.5%).

In North Africa growth will slow fractionally this year as output in Morocco expands only 3.5%, compared with 7.3% in 2006. But expansion will accelerate in both Algeria and Tunisia while inflation will remain substantially lower than in SSA, at 4%.

The main threats to this broadly positive scenario are a slowdown in the global economy and the impact that this would have on commodity prices, including oil, interest rates and private investor sentiment. The projected slowdown in the US should not have a major impact on SSA, notwithstanding the recent strengthening of trade links, but slowdowns in the EU and/or Asia would have a much greater impact. Asia now buys about one-quarter of SSA's exports, while China and India alone account for about one-tenth of the region’s total trade, and both countries are making “substantial investments” in the Sub-Saharan economy. If the global slowdown were to be worse than predicted, commodity prices--which have been rising in real terms since 2002--would weaken.

Downside political risks include the continuing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, the current conflict engulfing Ethiopia and Somalia, the political problems affecting Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Guinea, and continuing “fragilities” after the recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Recurring disruptions to oil production in the Niger delta pose an economic risk to Nigeria, while policies may have been relaxed in the run-up to the April presidential polls.

Despite all this African growth is forecast to exceed that of three other developing regions—East and Central Europe, Latin America and the Middle East—in 2007/08 but it will continue to lag Asia and emerging markets as a whole. Once again, the Fund report spells out in some detail the policies needed to close the gap with the developing world’s leading economies, but such advice is likely to be largely ignored while commodity prices continue to boom.

Source: http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9122679


RAK and Puntland State of Somalia sign agreements to boost bilateral cooperation

United Arab Emirates: Monday, April 16 - 2007 at 11:24

RAK and Puntland State of Somalia sign agreements to boost bilateral cooperation
H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, and H.E Mohamud Musse Hersi, President of the Puntland State of Somalia, signing bilateral economic agreements at the Al Dhait Palace in Ras Al Khaimah.

H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, held talks with H.E Mohamud Musse Hersi, President of the Puntland State of Somalia, and an accompanying delegation who called on him at the Al Dhait Palace, Ras Al Khaimah on 14th April, 2007.

During the meeting the two leaders signed a series of economic agreements aimed to further strengthen business cooperation between the two regions.

Welcoming Mohamud Musse Hersi, Sheikh Saud expressed hope that the high level visit would widen the scope of cooperation between UAE and Somalia. 'We hope that closer business ties between the two countries would further enhance economic activity that would contribute towards substantial economic development of Somalia and Puntland,' he said.

Mohamud Musse Hersi said that there was considerable potential for economic development in the Puntland State of Somalia and said that the Puntland was attracting considerable investor attention in recent times. 'UAE is one of our major trading partners and we look forward to further strengthening economic cooperation by extending collaboration across various fields,' he said.

The two leaders signed an agreement to set up a new hydrocarbon company, Puntland Hydrocarbon Development Company LLC, which would undertake exploration and development of oil and gas fields in Puntland.

The new joint venture company would also provide services to Puntland to manage its hydrocarbon resources including transfer of technical know-how, assessment of hydrocarbon potential, conducting seismic surveys and other services.

Ras Al Khaimah Government has also signed another agreement with the Puntland State of Somalia for undertaking a comprehensive study to come up with a development plan for the Puntland State, covering diverse areas such as development of ports, energy sector, airports, tourism and real estate development.

It has also inked a deal for setting up of a dedicated livestock quarantine facility to facilitate the import of livestock from Somalia to the UAE.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chairman of RAK Customs and Ports Department, Mohammad A. Al Mehrizi, Director of RAK Customs and Ports Department, Ruurd Abma Managing Director of RAK Gas a number of government officials were present at the function.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/116856.html


Freedom for Ogaden, the West’s Last Choice in Africa
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
The critical events at Obala, Northern Ogaden, and the successful operation carried out by the ONLF, bring the West in front of a most challenging predicament: either adjust the African policy on Humanist and Democratic principles and concepts and put an end to the most loathed tyrannical regime of fake ‘Ethiopia’ or support it and see Islamic terrorism expand throughout Africa like mushrooms. READ....
 

 

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