The Mogadishu Security & Stabilization Plan – also known as the ‘Dan Guud Program’ – I’m not sure how many of you have heard of this, but it is not something new. It started in 2005 and only just recently received $9.5 million in funding from the US & the UK, at the start [...]
Learning from the Silence of the Media – I like to pick up things that many people are not really talking about too much. Listening to the silence teaches me more than hearing the shouts. During February 2012, remember when David Cameron made Somalia’s piracy problem a priority when drafting up his foreign [...]
The Istanbul Declaration – Ahhh, you hadn’t heard of that one before, have you? Or are you wondering whether I have a leaked document hidden somewhere that reveals the communique of the upcoming Conference on Somalia in Istanbul in June? I’m afraid not. I have just read documents that give us a clearer insight [...]
‘The economy without a state’ wants to talk to investors – not be patronised by Kenya-based aid workers IF SOMALIA experiences its own Arab-style ‘spring’, it might not be a revolutionary wave against its own government – but an uprising against British intervention in the form of ‘aid’. Senior government ministers in Mogadishu have expressed [...]
The following article was first published in the newspaper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 226 April/May 2012. see www.frfi.co.uk for more information) Hands Off Somalia (HOS) was initiated by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism in January 2012. The campaign was then set up by both Somali and non-Somali activists, who understand what western intervention means and the destruction that it imposes on [...]
Everyone is always focusing on the Somali youth and understandably so. Like a politician looking to win the most votes in his constituency by attracting the minority vote, each group/organisation is looking to attract the Somali youth to join their cause. But there are few things that we are not looking at objectively or [...]
Over the past few years we have seen a boom of Somali youth groups springing up all across the globe. This in itself is a feat to be celebrated as it shows that the youth are waking up to the problems our community is facing and are working towards solutions to tackle these issues. [...]
Some of you may have wondered why I haven’t mentioned the Somali delegates that attended the LDN conference. What can I say? What other nation has four presidents, a prime minister, and a mayor to represent them at one meeting? If that doesn’t show our divide, I don’t know what does. To be honest, I [...]
Okay, so I mentioned that we need to lobby for what we want. Not really a new idea for many of you, so what makes me mentioning it any different this time? And who do we lobby to? Who will lobby on our behalf? We have had many movements across the Diaspora in [...]
Having finished on some of the background information I wanted to share with all of you in Part I and Part II of this post, I hope to be able to look at the LDN conference from a different perspective than those who have written about it thus far. Politics is a lot [...]
North America The relations between US and Somalia are well known, especially its Dual Track policy of late. Some argue that it will increase humanitarian aid whilst others strongly criticize the policy. The US have been using drones to strike at insurgents and it has even been suggested that the CIA has sites in Somalia [...]
It’s been nearly a month since the London Conference on Somalia. Everyone has had some views on it, one way or another. I just wanted to have a look at the different international community’s involvement in Somalia and how far that involvement extends to. The list of attendees is long so I will [...]
It’s been way too long, but I’m back with The Awoowe Diaries. First thing I wanted to write about is not the London Conference on Somalia, surprisingly enough, but it is about the cross-Atlantic connect between Somalis. I wanted to be able to have a look into our Diaspora communities and figure out a [...]
So far, the consultations for the preparation of the London Conference on Somalia have been described as mere presentations of seven pre-determined themes while the views and suggestions of the Somali participants have been characterized as ambitious, opposing, and non-operational. Sure, the Somali views are diverse, not filtered and opposing but they share the deep [...]
Growing up in Minnesota I was fortunate enough to grow up around the Somali community. My family lived in the suburbs up until the end of my high school years but every weekend we would all make sure to go down to the city and chill with grandma. My grandma lived in the heart of [...]
