Aug 07, 2011:  Less than two months ago, he was prime minister of Somalia. He battled terrorists, pirates and warlords. He addressed dignitaries from the United Nations.

Now, Mohamed A. Mohamed is back at his old job at the state Department of Transportation downtown, back to his little cubicle with a window overlooking Swan Street.

A few photos of him as premier were tacked to his wall by colleagues, the only visible reminder that these last nine months weren’t a dream.

“It’s a different feeling when you’re heading a whole nation and you come back to your normal life,” Mohamed said. “It’s a little awkward, to tell you the truth.”

Mohamed, 49, a Somali native who resettled in Buffalo more than 20 years ago, was forced out as Somalia’s prime minister in June, ending his remarkable months-long odyssey as abruptly as it began.

He returned to his job at the DOT on Thursday, as he tries to settle into his old life as civil servant, husband and father living on Grand Island.

But his heart is still with Somalia. He still grapples with what he saw, what’s happening and lessons learned.

As prime minister, Mohamed pleaded with international leaders to pay closer attention to his homeland in East Africa, and now we understand why.

Somalia has been struck by the worst drought in 60 years, contributing to a famine that’s sending tens of thousands of Somalis fleeing for the border.

The refugee camp in Kenya — still occupied by Somalis from the drought 20 years ago — has swelled to nearly 400,000 people, with more than 1,000 arriving from across the desert each day. The United Nations refugee agency described it as the worst humanitarian disaster in the world right now.

“They show up in terrible condition,” said Charity Tooze, a spokeswoman for the U.N. agency based in Washington, D.C. “They have nothing. They’re incredibly dehydrated and malnourished. Mothers are losing their children across the desert.”

The death toll mounts. The famine has killed an estimated 29,000 children under age 5 in the last three months alone.

Admits being naive

It makes Mohamed think about the kids he once visited in a Somali school.

They were boys and girls as young as 7. He shook their hands and smiled, but was struck by their malnourishment and the despair in their eyes.

“What do they look like now?” he thinks.

What happened to them?

Mohamed was as stunned as anyone when he was offered the prime minister’s position last October, after a trip to the U.N. in New York City to speak with Somalia’s president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

He was also naive.

Mohamed hadn’t been home in a quarter-century, and his country had changed so much. Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991, when the president was overthrown and much of this coastal nation along the Indian Ocean was thrown into lawlessness and warfare.

It was now a very dangerous place, and very complicated.

The southern part of the country, specifically, is controlled by Islamic terrorists — al-Shabab. Pirates roam the waters. The weak and ineffective temporary government backed by the international community has been notoriously corrupt.

“When I went there,” Mohamed said. “I thought there was a functioning system that only needed some adjustment here and there.

“But honestly,” he said, “everywhere was dysfunction. You’re starting from scratch.”

There are hospitals, but little medicine.

It lacks basic services, like garbage collection.

Displaced Somalis live out of abandon buildings, and make money from whatever they sell on the street.

Everyone carries guns.

“It’s kind of this post-modern, science fiction chaos,” said J. Peter Pham, an expert on Somalia with the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

A sign of hope came Saturday. Reports indicated militants vacated much of the capital of Mogadishu, but it was unclear if it was for good or just a tactic.

The militants are a big part of the reason for this crisis — not just drought.

The country is one of the most inaccessible for relief organizations, which have a history of being denied by al-Shabab or are scared off by the violence, Pham said.

At the same time, the government’s legacy of infighting and pocketing foreign aid has made the international community wary of getting too deeply involved.

“It’s a matter of funding,” Pham said. “This is one of those things where reality hits the ground. We can’t fund everything, and if anything, the debt-ceiling debate reminded us of our limits.

“Even those countries who fund Somalia have no assurances, with this so-called government, that the money is going to do any good,” Pham said.

15-hour work days

Mohamed worked 15-hour days running day-to-day operations from his office-apartment inside the government compound in the capital of Mogadishu. He easily dropped 20 pounds from the stress.

After his first interview with Somalia’s president, he stepped outside and a bullet whizzed passed, landing two feet in front of him.

“Yeah, that’s normal,” said the man walking with him. “Keep walking.”

The selection of the University at Buffalo graduate as prime minister drew criticism in some circles because of his lack of experience in international politics, but what qualifications prepare you for this?

He did learn politics while working on campaigns in Buffalo, but that didn’t prepare him for everything. Here, conflicts might be settled by offering a patronage job. In Somalia, there are no jobs to offer.

Mohamed often questioned why he took the position. Then, he thought of those kids he met in that school. He kept a picture of them on the wall of his office to remind him.

Other photos of him can be found all over the Internet: Mohamed with the prime minister of Italy; Mohamed before the UN security council; Mohamed with the British couple he helped free from Somali pirates.

“That was a good moment,” he said.

There were plenty of bad moments, too.

In June, Somalis got word of a deal to oust Mohamed and reportedly took to the streets of the capital in protest.

Mohamed was concerned the large crowd was an easy target for a terrorist bombing and asked his interior minister to talk to the people.

The cabinet member went out, stood on top of a vehicle and told the crowd to disperse. When they did, Mohamed breathed a sigh of relief.

An hour later, a suicide bomber walked right into the interior minister’s home and blew him up.

The bomber was the minister’s niece.

Behind the scenes there were tensions between the Somali president and the speaker of parliament.

The two adversaries were under pressure to get along or face losing financial support from the international community, so they struck a deal. Part of the pact was that Mohamed would go.

Clash led to ouster

Mohamed believed Somalia was taking steps — building an army, pushing back al-Shabab, gaining public support — but he clashed with the speaker.

While Mohamed agreed to bow out, rather than remain part of the problem, he had a condition of his own: His deputy from Amherst would succeed him.

The new prime minister, Abdiweli M. Ali, is an economics professor at Niagara University. Mohamed trusts him. The two shared many a coffee together at Tim Hortons in Amherst and Grand Island talking about Somalia in theory.

Now, they talk about the reality by phone.

“I’ve known him for a long time,” Mohamed said. “He’s a decent guy, a professional, straightforward guy and has the same philosophy — not to steal, be honest and do the best you can.

“But I worry about him,” Mohamed said. “It’s a stressful job. I’m sure he’s going through a very, very tough time.”

For Mohamed, this experience changed him. He was humbled, has become more appreciative.

He wants to start a nonprofit to help unite Somali communities in the United States. He won’t speculate on whether he would ever run for president of Somalia, but he hasn’t ruled out running for a political office in this country.

He wants to write a book about his amazing story.

On Thursday, his colleagues at the DOT gathered in a small conference room and welcomed his return with a cake.

“We all kept him in our prayers,” said Janine Shepherd, who sits in the cubicle next to him.

Mohamed expressed his appreciation and said how happy he was to be back.

source: the bufallo news

June 5, 2011: The Somali Minister of Sport and Youth has launched an investigation into alleged corruption against the Somali NOC . The investigation, The Ministry said in his report, came after many complaints were received from the Somali National Federations.

The corruption investigations come as hundreds thousands of funds from the Olympic Solidarity for the development of the Somali athletics were misused by the Somali NOC. The Ministry of Sport & Youth has requested the International Olympic Committee, Olympic Solidarity and all other sponsors to suspend all the funds to the Somali NOC until the investigation is completed.

Although the people of Mogadishu are being fought for their determination to adopt the Islamic Shari’ah as their source of governance, the crusaders, who serve as mercenaries propelling America’s global war on Islam along the East African coast, have this time focused primarily upon the destruction of their economy. Having failed to achieve their desired objectives because of the strong resistance from the Mujahideen and having seen the corpses of their comrades and commanders dragged in the streets of Mogadishu on a regular basis, the objective of the crusaders is now to target innocent civilians and to destroy the fabric that holds the people of Mogadishu together, leaving them fragmented and disoriented.

The African crusaders were not alone in their attempts. Lured by greed and an opportunity to pillage and plunder the wealth of the civilians, the apostate militia, aided by the tanks and artillery of the African crusaders, launched an offensive on Bakara Market, where tens of thousands of civilians gather every day to earn their living. And as the people went about their usual businesses, the militia raided them with mortars, shells and bullets, specifically targeting large companies, hotels, warehouses and stores, and indiscriminately killing dozens of innocent civilians.

The shelling was not confined to the Bakara market, but also targeted heavily populated residential areas, hospitals and other markets in Yaaqshiid, Huriwaa and Kaaran districts, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians.

By the grace of Allah, the Mujahideen repelled the attack of the crusaders and their apostate militia, killing their senior commanders including Dooha Koofi, the commander of the militia guarding the Presidential Palace and dozens of their soldiers.

Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen has pledged to protect the religion of Allah from the aggressive onslaught of the Christian West and their African mercenaries, and also to safeguard the dignity and wealth of the Muslims. This will be done through the establishment of the Islamic Shari’ah and Somalia will be governed by nothing except the Shari’ah of Allah.

Press Office
Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen

Amid chaos and growing lawlessness in Somalia, the country’s handball federation has on Wednesday launched the 12th men’s handball championship which attracted the attention of many handball fans from different regions across the country.

The Somali police team of Heegan humiliated its Ferro rivals by 26-16 in the hotly contested match which gathered many high level governmental and Somali NOC officials. According to its schedules the championship will last until 17th of June this year.

The president of Somali handball federation Mohamed Hurshe Hassan who first addressed at the opening ceremony of the championship said that his federation spent allot of efforts in implementing a beautiful championship.

“We have two important points in holding this competition, the first is to keep handball alive in Somalia and the second is to protect young boys from falling into the hands of notorious criminals in the country and I think that we have succeeded in our ambitions” the Somali handball federation president told in his opening remarks on Wednesday afternoon.

The president of Somali National Olympic committee Aden Hajji Yeberow who addressed at the opening ceremony praised the Somali handball federation for its activities in and outside the war-ravaged country.

“I am very grateful to the Somali handball federation president and the members of his executive committee for the positive job they are waging and I urge them to continue it” the Somali NOC president told the ceremony.

The Somali NOC president said that the recently repaired Waberi district stadium will also host Fustal and volleyball tournaments.

Meanwhile the Waberi district commissioner Ahmed Meyre Makaran thanked Somali NOC and the handball federation for selecting his district stadium to host the tournament.

“We have made a lot of efforts to ensure the security here in Waberi and that is why it became a save haven for sports games” the commissioner said. There were scores of police men in and around the stadium to tighten the security.

Waberi district also holds the Somali NOC and Somali Football Federation after they fled from their compounds in the Al-shabaab-controlled side of the capital.

The Chinese built Mogadishu sports village which has 12 different international style stadiums including a handball stadium is currently occupied by the AL-Qaeda-linked Al-shabaab militants.

The National Union of Somali Journalists ‘NUSOJ” said in a statement Thursday that it was very shocked about the terrible situation under which the detained journalist is currently living.

“We are calling on Somali government to unconditionally release the journalist Mohamed Ali Mahmoud and compensate him for the cruel and unjustifiable detention” NUSOJ secretary general Omar Faruk Osman said in his statement Thursday.

“Since December last year he was between Al-shabaab and Somali government custodies and that is complete evidence that Somali journalists are always taking the brunt of evil acts by the warring sides in Somalia—they have actually no where to run” NUSOJ secretary general’s statement said.

The 31 year old journalist has a wife and 7 children including a baby girl who was born on Wednesday night this week. NUSOJ said that the detained journalist is being dealt with badly and is suffering from bad healthy conditions.

“No cases were suggested against him and he was not even brought to court—he has only been kept in custody for more than three months, this is an intolerable act so we urge the transitional federal government TFG of Somalia to suddenly free him” NUSOJ secretary general said in his statement.

The Journalist Mohamed Ali Mahmoud was arrested by Al-Shabaab on December 1st 2010 and released on bail on the 17th of January this year, but misfortunately he was detained by Somali government on February 14th and until now he is being held at Mogadishu’s central prison.

Mahmoud is the owner of City voice radio, the sole music radio station in the war-devastated country. He is one of the very few high profile journalists who insisted to remain in the country despite targeted assassinations against top level journalists in Somalia.

In Somalia journalists are similarly arrested, tortured, extorted robbed or most cruelly killed by all sides involved in Somalia’s dirty conflict including Somali government, the Alqaeda-linked Al-shabaab militants and the moderate Islamists themselves.

Somalia is described as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work.

We are delighted to have recruited someone of Bana Ali’s background, ability and experience. The Ministry for Sport , Youth & Labor look forward to working with Mr Ali to ensure that the Somali Sports to prosper” Said the Minister of sport Mr Abdinur Moalim.

The former Somali Basketball’s Secretary General Mr Bana Ali said “ I am extremely honoured and delighted to have been appointed as an advisor to the Somali Minister , it is a challenging position which will involve more responsibility, but I am looking forward to getting started in the role”. I am sill head of Marketing Council of Zone V for Fiba Africa and this is also an opportunity for me to be able to support Fiba Africa as much as I can

The town of Garbaharey, located in the western region of Gedo and near the borders with Ethiopia and Kenya, had been under Shebab control since 2009.

“Our forces are now fully in control of Garbaharey town, which the Al Qaeda elements emptied this morning as we approached,” Mohamed Abdi Kalil, the governor of Gedo region, told AFP.

“We will continue to advance on the other towns and, God willing, we will flush them out completely,” he said.

Garbaharey is the latest in a string of major towns in the region the Shebab have lost in recent weeks, as pro-government forces continue their reconquest of large areas which had been under Shebab control for two to three years.

“The government forces entered the town around midday after the Shebab militants withdrew without fighting. I saw dozens of armed vehicles patrolling in the streets,” Abdullahi Haji Mohamed, a local resident, said.

Shebab officials could not immediately be reached for comment but security sources in the areas said the Islamist fighters had temporarily retreated to around 15 kilometres (10 miles) outside the town.

Somali government forces, allied local militias and the Sufi group Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa are fighting together in a bid to reconquer the country.

Until the offensive kicked off earlier this year — with African Union forces spearheading the effort in Mogadishu and support from Kenya and Ethiopia to the south — the Shebab controlled most of southern and central Somalia.

Pro-government forces gave already captured key towns in the southernmost region of Jubba while the next objective of the forces who entered Garbaharey Thursday is believed to be the town of Bardera.

The pincer movement from the regions of Gedo and Jubba leaves the southern port city of Kismayo, the Shebab’s main economic and logistical lifeline, looking increasingly isolated.

Source: AFP

Mohamed Hassan, a resident of the town of Dhusamareb, said Saturday that hundreds of al-Shabab militia had taken over the town after they staged a surprise attack on their rivals, the Alhu Sunna Waljama fighters.

Sheik Abdirahman Ali, an Ahlu Sunna Waljama commander, claimed that his fighters’ retreat from the town was a military tactic and that they would soon recapture it.

Ahlu Sunna Waljama fighters took Dhusamareb town near the Ethiopian border from the al-Shabab two years ago.

Source: Canadian press.

A 2009 deal envisioned the mandate of the Somali government and parliament would expire on August 20 this year, by which time they were supposed to have enacted a new constitution and held elections.

In March the transitional cabinet extended its term by a further year saying it wanted to ensure continuity in its fight against insurgents, joining the parliament in lengthening its mandate.

“The cabinet ministers have underlined that election is impossible because of insecurity,” a cabinet statement said. “This decision strengthens our previous decision that elections should be postponed by one year. This is to ensure that ongoing security and political developments (are completed).”

The U.N. has called for elections to be held to bring an end to the transitional phase, but it is unclear how such a vote could take place in the war-torn country.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government is seen by the international community as the best hope of restoring order in the anarchic Horn of Africa country after two decades of armed conflict.

Ahmed has expressed interest in running for a second term.

On Saturday, the president and prime minister failed to convince parliament to approve extending the government’s term.

Often rated as a failed state, Somalia has lacked effective central government since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Somalia is embroiled in war with Islamist al Shabaab rebels who want to topple its Western-backed government, and piracy is rife off its lawless coast.

On Saturday the government said legislators failed to turn up for a meeting to resolve differences between the executive and the government and the parliament.

“It was not passed by the parliament and so it is illegal. The government can only propose,” lawmaker Ismail Ahmed said of the decision to postpone elections.

Source: Reuters.

While conferring with Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Thursday Meles said Ethiopia would further strengthen its support it gives to Somalia to bring sustainable peace and stability in that country.

Meles stressed the need to further strengthen the efforts well underway to ensure peace and security in the region. Meles confirmed that Ethiopia will continue its efforts to restore peace.

TFG President, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told journalists after the talks that Ethiopia and Somalia would continue to work together to ensure peace and security in the region.

He said TFG is striving to make the peace and security in Somalia dependence and sustainable.

He requested Meles to extend support to TFG to help it bring peace and security in Somalia. He said the talks between him and Meles was constructive and fruitful.