DUBAI: The DP World is planning to set up a logistics facility in Ethiopia to facilitate transport of goods to landlocked countries in Africa, revealed Sultan Bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation.

“We are planning to set up a logistics complex in Ethiopia where goods can be transported from the port to it, and from there it can be transported to different African landlocked countries. We have signed a number of agreements with Ethiopia that will promote our friendly relationships with them. Business groups in Dubai can always benefit from DP World’s presence in different countries including Rwanda and Egypt where re-exporting opportunities are abundant” bin Sulayem remarked during an open dialogue with trade and business groups in Dubai.

“The world is witnessing rapid changes and developments in trade. There is now more focus on fair trade on the agenda and external policy of countries like the USA, which means protective measures will be taken to curb the flow of goods from the European Union and China into the American market. There are international efforts to reach for a fair and balanced trade, and these developments and changes have put us face to face with new challenges, but we have learnt from our wise leadership that challenges can be turned into opportunities. ‘’ ‘’We carefully study developments in international trade to always find alternative markets, and this can be sustained through enhancing our strategic partnerships” he added.

The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) has recently signed an agreement with DP World in Dubai to build a strategic relationship and support the UN World Data Forum 2018.

SOURCE: WAM

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By Menna Zaki

CAIRO — A Sudanese opposition party says its leader has been denied entry to Egypt upon his arrival from Germany.

Sunday’s statement by the National Ummah Party says that al-Sadiq al-Mahdi was stopped on Saturday at Cairo Airport, on his way back from attending a Sudanese opposition meeting in Berlin.

It also said Egyptian authorities had asked Al-Mahdi, who resides in Egypt, not to attend the conference.

Egypt airport officials said in a statement Sunday that processing procedures had simply taken a long time and that Al-Mahdi later headed to London. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Al-Mahdi, 82, was Sudan’s last democratically elected prime minister and was overthrown in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: AP

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Suspected contraband sugar which was seized in Kitui on June 16, 2018. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The sugar wars that are threatening to unravel the Jubilee ruling coalition have focused mostly on the product that is imported by scores of licensed traders.

But, unknown to many Kenyans, a significant amount of sugar consumed in the country is contraband Brazilian product imported via the Kismayu port and smuggled in through the porous Somalia border.

A study by a Danish think-tank shows how political, business, bureaucratic and security interests in Somalia and Kenya are fuelling the smuggling that threatens the country’s political and economic stability.

It describes the smuggling as a “dangerous, lucrative and highly political business.’’

SUGAR BELT NEGLECT

Sweet secrets: Sugar smuggling and State formation in Kenya-Somalia borderlands by Prof Jacob Rasmussen of Denmark’s Roskilde University, blames official neglect of the sugar sector in western Kenya and marginalisation of the country’s northern region for the smuggling.

It names a former governor and a leading politician from northern Kenya as some of the top politicians involved in the trade.

There are at least 70 businessmen in Kismayu, Garissa and Nairobi who operate lucrative rings that earn them millions of dollars a year.

In contrast to the sugar that comes in through Mombasa, which is imported by licensed traders, the one from Somalia is contraband and is mostly from Brazil.

The smugglers have hundreds of trucks that operate between Garissa and Kismayu.

On their way to Kismayu, they carry Kenyan food and consumer goods and, on their way back, they are loaded with hundreds of bags of contraband sugar.

The researchers spoke to a number of truck drivers on the frontline of the smuggling.

SECURITY THREAT

The study says the Kenyan military, its Somali allies and Al-Shabaab militants are cooperating on the trade in a move that has serious security consequences for both Kenya and Somalia.

The government is denied hundreds of millions of shillings in taxes yet some of its agencies, including the military, police and KRA, are involved in unofficial taxation of the trade.

From Kismayu, which has been under the control of the Kenya Defence Forces since 2012, the sugar passes through Al-Shabaab controlled territory to Garissa and Nairobi where it is repackaged and sold as a local product.

There is also a big market of the commodity in northeastern, especially in refugee camps, the study reveals.

JUBILEE RIFT

Sugar trade has of late become a political hot potato with accusations that some traders imported the product laced with mercury.

Some 1.2 million bags of sugar have been seized by police in Nairobi, Kitui, Machakos and Migori in the past fortnight.

Senior officials of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, including former managing director Charles Ongwae, have been charged with allowing the sugar into the country.

The crackdown has turned into a face-off between the two wings of the ruling Jubilee coalition loyal to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto.

Some in the Ruto faction feel the crackdown has targeted them while leaving out supporters of the President who are also sugar importers.

Last week, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, a leading ally of the DP, accused the government of targeting small Somali sugar sellers instead of going for big importers.

He named godowns in Nakuru and western Kenya he said were full of imported sugar.

And this week, Aldai MP Cornelly Serem named the President’s brother, Muhoho, as one of the importers.

MARGINALISATION

Prof Rasmussen’s study was funded by the Danish Consultative Research Committee for Development (FFU) and published by the Danish Institute for International Studies and Centre for African Economics.

“Sugar smuggling in northern Kenya is informed by decades of political marginalisation of the northern territories by the Kenyan central government. Corruption and structural neglect of domestic sugar production in western Kenya is also influenced by struggles over political power in Nairobi,” the study says.

Before KDF took control of Kismayu, al-Shabaab’s main income came from charcoal. But this has since shifted to sugar as it has become easier for them to control the transportation and levying of taxes along the route from Kismayu into Kenya.

CONFLICT ECONOMY

Although KDF has been criticised for enabling the trade, the study also targets the political and business interests that fuel the trade in Somalia and northern Kenya as political elites rely heavily on the conflict economy to establish and maintain power.

In 2015, the Journalists For Justice lobby group published a research report in which it said 150,000 tonnes of illegal sugar entered Kenya from Kismayu in 2014.

This amounts to $400 million (Sh40 billion) worth of annual revenue divided between KDF, Al-Shabaab, local businessmen and politicians, as well as police and KRA officials.

In 2014 up to 230 trucks left Kismayu every week, each carrying 14 tonnes of sugar, and even though they are no longer in control of the harbour, al-Shabaab charges $1,000 per truck.

Checkpoints between Kismayu and the Kenyan border are divided between the militants and KDF, where KDF and Somali officials in Jubaland are said to charge a tax of $2 per sack of 50 and sometimes 100 kg.

On the Somali side of the border in Dhobley, the Jubaland administration collects a further tax of $600 per truck.

To cross the border at Liboi truck owners pay another $600 to the KDF and an expected final $600 to the police at the Dadaab refugee camp.

SUGAR GODOWNS

Sugar warehouses are distributed along the route from the border at Liboi all the way to Mandera in the north.

The sugar godowns in Dadaab, El Wak, Modogashe, Habaswein, Wajir, and Mandera each form local distribution points, indicating local demand for sugar.

Although the trade has been in existence for nearly two decades, the rise of Al-Shabaab insurgent group has brought in a new security dimension, the study says.

The trade has also become associated with Kenyan politics in novel ways, as the mismanagement of national sugar production increases the demand for sugar while protectionist trade policies have obstructed sufficient imports.

‘STATE AGAINST ITSELF’

The Somalia sugar bridges a deficit in Kenyan production.

The study says because the Somali State is all but absent, local politicians, businessmen and militias cooperate, compete, and negotiate the rules of the game.

KDF’s involvement, the study adds, undermines their legitimacy. It also gives the trade an important role in escalating security concerns and instability on both sides of the border.

It is ironical, the study says, that the Kenyan government sets up the rules of taxation and official passage across the border, hence defining illicitness as non-compliance with these rules.

Yet the active involvement of the KDF and other Kenyan state agencies in the illicit trade make the Kenyan state a co-producer of illicit practices, thus effectively setting the State against itself.

LOCAL PRODUCTION

But at the heart of the contraband sugar imports is Kenya’s inability to be self-sufficient in local production, the paper says.

According to annual reports by the US Department of Agriculture, Kenyan sugar consumption is growing, yet local production is declining.

In 2011 domestic production covered 70 per cent of local consumption, but in 2015 the local share was down to 62 per cent. In 2014, Kenya had a sugar deficit of 200,000 tonnes.

Outdated sugar mills that are closed regularly for maintenance are blamed for the deficit.

Small-scale farmers who supply most of the cane have not been paid for months.

This also applies to other public factories like Nzoia. Private millers like West Kenya have resorted to imports.

Kenya’s sugar processing is slow and expensive, resulting in production costs that are 50 to 60 per cent higher than in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, not to mention Ethiopia, which has increased its sugar cane production in recent years as part of government-led agricultural development projects.

In Kenya, Mumias Sugar Company Limited, the largest producer, which accounts for close to 60 per cent of national sugar output, has been wracked by financial irregularities and corruption, repeatedly interrupting production since 2012.

These irregularities and the high production costs of Kenyan sugar meant that locally milled sugar in 2014 sold for up to Sh133 a kilo, whereas smuggled sugar went for as little as Sh60 a kilo.

With these price differences in mind it is easy to see the potential for profit in repackaging and selling smuggled sugar as if it were local sugar, the study says.

POWERFUL CARTELS

The sugar importers are so powerful and dangerous that even government officials are forced to play ball.

The Dadaab refugee camp, close to Garissa in northern Kenya, is one of the major hubs for the trade with hundreds of thousands of clients.

The report cites a 2014 incident in which a police officer was shot dead in the camp when he acted against the advice of his sugar patron, an influential local politician.

Officially, his killing was blamed on Al-Shabaab. The report also quotes a regional commissioner newly posted to the area narrating how he was threatened by a sugar trader who visited him in his office.

“If he was unwilling to cooperate, the businessman pointed out that the commissioner had three options; either to seek transfer of placement by himself, to have the businessman take care of his transfer or to never return to his family. Such blunt intimidation testifies to the power and connectedness of the people involved in the smuggling.’’

COMPLICIT SUPPORT

KDF’s implicit support or acceptance of Al-Shabaab’s huge profits from the trade, the study says, goes directly against the official security interests of the Kenyan state and produces incentives for local politicians to keep the conflict going.

On April 2, 2015, when al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University College, killing 148 people mostly students, the government announced it had frozen the accounts of 86 companies it said supported the militants.

Nation investigations at the time revealed that none of the sugar barons were named in the list of 86 companies and individuals.

Reports by the United Nations and a US government agency say there are about 70 businessmen — in Kismayu, Garissa and Nairobi — who are brokers in the sugar trade.

According to a report prepared jointly by the United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) and Interpol, Al-Shabaab’s primary source of income appears to be from informal taxation at roadblocks.

The report said the militants make as much as Sh1.5 billion a year from just one roadblock.

“There are five checkpoints between Kismayu and Garissa — three by Al-Shabaab and two by the KDF. The sugar trucks are waved through all the checkpoints without checks,” said a source. Kenya’s military chiefs have previously denied allegations of involvement in any illicit activity in Somalia.

Source: Daily Nation

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By Alexandra Arriaga

On June 5, 2018 in Orland Park, IL, Maria Ontiveros, Felicia Salameh and Jessica Salgado all do their evening prayer before breaking their Ramadan fast. I Maria de la Guardia/Sun-Times

Standing shoulder to shoulder inside a community center in Morton Grove, Muslim men and boys bowed their heads in prayer. Behind them, women and girls prayed along, some with faces covered, some just their heads.

At the same moment, Muslims around Chicago and the world faced Mecca and prayed to Allah. They repeated the pattern of standing, kneeling, bending their foreheads to the ground, uttering prayers.

It was Ramadan — the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, in which Muslims fast and devote themselves to prayer, giving to the less fortunate and nourishing relationships. At the end of their fast each day, they ate an iftar — breaking their fast.

At this iftar in Morton Grove, Arabic, Urdu and English were spoken by Muslims whose roots traced to India, Pakistan, Jordan and Palestine. Soon, Spanish could also be heard.

Alongside the traditional Pakistani and Indian dishes — daal, butter chicken and endless naan — were Mexican dishes like molé y arroz.

It was a slice of the Muslim world that’s often overlooked — people whose families are from Mexico, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Peru.

There are no precise figures on how many Latino Muslims live in the Chicago area, where the population is about 30 percent Latino. But, according to various estimates, the 130 mosques in the city and suburbs are the spiritual home to a small but growing group of converts — Latino Muslims.

Juan Galvan, co-author of a national study last year of Latino Muslims as director of the Latino American Dawah Organization, puts the number at about 35,000.

Galvan says Chicago is home to one of the nation’s biggest and longest-standing Latino Muslim populations.

According to Aaron Siebert-Llera, an attorney with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network who is the current director of the Latino American Dawah Organization, the black Muslim population has been the predominant Muslim group in Chicago. During the 1960s and 1970s, Siebert-Llera says, the South Asian and Arab Muslim populations grew, separately on the North and Southwest Sides.

As with other immigrant groups, different communities tended to have their own places of worship.

“It’s just based on how Chicago has always been — a very divided city,” he says. “Muslim immigrants kind of followed the same pattern. These communities have all segmented themselves. Latinos are the same way. They stay in the neighborhoods where they’re comfortable.”

Siebert-Llera says Latino Muslims around Chicago tend to be more dispersed than they are in other cities. In Houston, for example, the Centro Islámico mosque opened in 2016 to serve Latino populations.

But there are growing signs of change in Chicago. The organization Islam in Spanish — which was formed in Houston — now has a Chicago chapter. The young Muslim Latinos who’ve been gathering through that network are creating a new nonprofit called Ojalá and looking to set up their own mosque.

“You have your places where you can be together and be with people from your same background, we’re just looking for the same,” Siebert-Llera says.

Felicia Salameh, who lives in Orland Park with her husband and two sons, attends a nearby mosque and sends her older son to the Muslim school next door, where he learns to read the Quran in Arabic.

She was raised by a Mexican Catholic mother and Palestinian Muslim father.

What’s pulled her closer to Islam have been the connections she has made with other Latino Muslims. Since meeting others in the Islam in Spanish group, she’s moved more and more toward wearing a hijab, or headscarf. She has been learning more about Islam and has traveled to Texas to meet with Latino Muslims from around the country.

“When I found out that there were Mexicans and Puerto Ricans and Colombians who were also Muslim, I was really excited,” Salameh says. “They educate Latinos who are interested about Islam, in the Spanish language if the person does not speak English.”

The group also has opened the door for her to more deeply connect with her Mexican roots. She says she’s picked up on Mexican recipes, as well as some Spanish, and now more readily asks her Mexican abuela, a devout Catholic, about their family history.

A strong Catholic culture might be part of the reason some Latinos have embraced Islam, according to Salameh.

“People who are Catholic or Christian when they come to Islam, they realize that this is all stuff that I believe in already,” Salameh says. “Islam is the only non-Christian faith that believes in Jesus Christ.”

Efrain Diaz is a Brighton Park native, father of two daughters and a Mexican-American who is a convert to Islam. Diaz was baptized, had his first communion and was confirmed in the Catholic church. His parents, immigrants from Mexico, decorate their home with images of Jesus Christ and the Mexican icon of Mary, la Virgen de Guadalupe.

He tries to explain his decision to follow a different religion to his parents, pointing to similarities that he says made it easier to choose to convert. For example, he tells them, both Jesus Christ and Mary have a chapter in the Quran, the sacred book of Islam. To believe in Islam, he tells them, is to believe in Jesus as a highly respected prophet and in Mary as his mother.

And the languages his family speaks and the language he prays in — Spanish and Arabic — have strong historic connections and similarities.

“Pantalón, pantaloon; camisa, kamis; azucar, sookar,” Diaz says. And his favorite, “Ojalá, Inshallah,” meaning “God willing.”

Diaz got caught up in gang activity and almost had to raise his two young daughters from behind bars. When he decided to commit to Islam, he was alone in a jail cell, facing drug charges. In his cell, he had the company of two books: a novel by James Patterson and a Quran.

“This is like God talking to me, like he’s giving me signs,” Diaz says of the moment he found the Quran. “Alhamdulillah, thanks to God I didn’t end up having to do 30 years.”

Some of the charges were dropped. Now, after getting out of jail, he’s back in Brighton Park. He lives in the same building where his parents, aunts and uncles live and takes care of the family. Every afternoon, he picks up his daughter from school.

When Diaz picked up the Quran, he prayed for the chance to return to his family and promised he would change. He was alone in his prison cell when he took his shahada, or declaration of faith, and became part of the Latino Muslim community.

Some converts from devout Catholic families say they sometimes are faced with skepticism and ignorance from their own relatives: “Oh, what are you an Arab now?” “Why did you join a black religion?” “Did you join ISIS?” “Take that thing off your head.”

Still, Salameh’s Mexican Catholic abuela has now gone with her to the mosque, accompanied her to meetings of Islam in Spanish and tried to learn about Islam.

One of Diaz’s first experiences joining others for Ramadan was uneasy. He sat at the table for an Eid celebration. People started speaking to him in Arabic.

“And I would say, ‘Meksiki,’ ” Diaz says. “Meksiki is Mexican. I don’t speak Arabic.”

Diaz stood out for another reason — the tattoos covering his hands, a lion on one, a skull on the other. In Islam, tattoos aren’t permitted.

“I felt so welcomed, and immediately everything turned around,” Diaz says. “They saw my tattoos. They got to talking in Arabic. And then it was, like, shunned. I remember that Ramadan I felt like crying, feeling so alone.”

Latino Muslims in Chicago say they have high hopes their new center for the Ojalá nonprofit can serve all members of the surrounding community — likely Back of the Yards or Brighton Park. They’re already taking part in neighborhood cleanups and hope to lead more Latinos and others to Islam.

“Prophet Muhammad said that this religion would spread to every corner of the world,” Salameh says. “The Latino community, they knew nothing about Islam. But they fell in love with it.”

Source: Chicago Sun Times

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Sacred object taken by British troops in the 19th century is concealed inside an altar

MARTIN BAILEY

An Orthodox priest holds a covered tabot—a sacred object—in a ceremony in Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: © Jialiang Gao

The Ethiopian government is calling for the restitution of a sacred object that is sealed inside an altar in London’s Westminster Abbey.

The object, known as a tabot, is a tablet that symbolically represents the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments. Every Ethiopian church houses a covered tabot, which is regarded as sacrosanct and must be seen only by the priest. The tablets, which are made of wood or stone, are believed to be inscribed with a cross and the name of a saint.

Westminster Abbey’s tabot was looted at the battle of Maqdala (formerly Magdala) in 1868, when British troops attacked the forces of the Ethiopian emperor Tewodros. The tabot was acquired by Captain George Arbuthnot of the Royal Artillery.

Although Anglican churches and cathedrals have an established system for deaccessioning furnishings, Westminster Abbey is a Royal Peculiar, which puts it directly under the monarch’s jurisdiction. The deaccessioning procedure is something of a grey area, but returning the tabot might require the blessing of The Queen. She may not have a personal view on the subject, but her son and heir, Prince Charles, has developed close links with eastern Orthodox churches and could well be sympathetic.

On his return to London, Arbuthnot donated the tabot to the abbey. In 1870, Dean Arthur Stanley commissioned the architect George Gilbert Scott to erect a new altar in the Henry VII Lady Chapel. The dean inserted the tabot into the back of the altar, where it remained visible, along with two other sacred objects—fragments from the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral and the major Greek Orthodox church in Damascus.

In 2007, the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, Abune Paulos, travelled to London to meet the abbey’s receiver-general and to call for the return of the tabot. A representative of the abbey said that this would be considered, but nothing more was heard.

Three years later, a covering was placed in front of the tabot, so it is no longer visible. The inscription, “Fragment of an Abyssinian Altar brought from Magdala in 1868”, was painted over. Today, the ghost-like rectangle where the front of the tabot was once exposed can just be made out.

Last month, following publicity surrounding the opening of the abbey’s museum, the Ethiopian ambassador in London reiterated his government’s claim. Hailemichael Aberra Afework told The Art Newspaper: “We are urging all those who hold items looted from Ethiopia to return them. This includes the tabot held at Westminster Abbey.” It would be inappropriate for a tabot to be displayed in a museum, so he believes that it should be returned to a church, with the Ethiopian synod permitted to decide which one.

Last month, a spokesman for the abbey commented: “The dean and chapter are very conscious of the sensitivity of the Ethiopian tabot, so steps were taken a number of years ago to ensure that the tabot, which is in a very sacred place, was properly covered and could not be seen by anyone.” He says that the abbey has “no plans to change these arrangements”.

There is, however, a precedent. In 2002, St John the Evangelist church in Edinburgh returned a tabot that had been found in a cupboard. On its return, a celebration was held to mark the event. The Ethiopian ambassador would like to see Westminster Abbey follow Edinburgh’s example. “We renew the call for restitution and urge the abbey to return this sacred artefact, which holds so much significance in Ethiopia,” he says.

Meanwhile, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum recently opened a display of its Maqdala treasures, and its director, the historian Tristram Hunt, has offered to send material back to Ethiopia on long-term loan. He believes that museums should confront “difficult and complex issues” relating to cultural and religious objects seized after the battle.

Source: The Art Newspaper

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A Somali policeman stands guard at the scene of an explosion at the Benadir junction in Mogadishu, Somalia July 2, 2018. REUTERS/Feisal Oma

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Seven people were wounded by a roadside bomb in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Monday, the police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Islamist group al Shabaab carries out frequent bombings in their bid to topple the western-backed government.

The bomb had been placed at Mogadishu’s Benadir junction, police officer major Abdullahi Hussein told Reuters.

“The bomb … injured seven pedestrians. There were no vehicles passing there by that time,” he said.

The injured were taken to hospital, said Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin Ambulances emergency service that transported them.

Somalia has been engulfed by violence and lawlessness since the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in early 1990s. Al Shabaab wants to install its own government based on its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

The group’s campaign of violence typically targets the military and African Union-mandated peace keeping force AMISOM although the militants are also accused of targeting civilians, something they deny.

On Sunday, four civilians died in Mogadishu in mortar attacks that were claimed by al Shabaab.

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By Rashed Gulaid

The Somali Government should exercise due diligence and caution as it forges new relationship with the New Ethiopian government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The new Prime Minister of Ethiopia is trying to consolidate his power and it is in his political interest to entertain grand and noble pan Africanist ideas that may appeal to the Somali people. But, the Somali government ought to be very careful and be mindful of the substances of his grand appeals and overtures.

PM Abiy Ahmed

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has provided guarantees to Egypt regarding the sharing of the Nile water. He has returned disputed land of Badme to Eritrea in exchange for normalized relations. He has even provided comfort to his political nemesis inside Ethiopia by implicitly alluding that his government has secured agreements with Somalia to invest ports along the Somali Coast line (an apparent wink wink from the PM that he will continue Ethiopia’s expansionist policies toward Somalia).

The Prime Ministers recent declaration that Ethiopia is building a navy can also be construed as a message to the opposition that the strategic Ethiopian ambition to secure gateway into the Somalia’s coastline is still a go. Now, Let us see what the prime Minister has offered to the Somali Government:

1) Ethiopia will invest Somali Ports although Ethiopia is financially broke. How is this great for Somalia? Nobody knows. Somalis could find investment elsewhere and Ethiopia will still benefit the use of the Somali ports.

2) Ethiopia will respect Somalia’s territorial integrity (a vague and standard platitude uttered between sovereign nations). No action to back up the prime ministers assertions and all the while maintaining illegal military presence inside Somalia.

3) Ethiopia will open consulate in every major city in Somalia.

The question that begs an answer is why this proposal is a priority for Somalia?

Other than the standard diplomatic statement regarding the respect for Somalia’s territorial integrity, the above-listed proposals do not provide a ground breaking shift from the status quo. On the contrary, the proposals seem to outline a new design in furthering Ethiopia’s grand vision to leverage the resources in Somalia for its own economic growth and development.  To make matters even worst, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, upon his return to Addis Ababa gave an interview to the media in which he proclaimed that Ethiopia and Somalia may become one country sometime in the future.

Most Somalis believe that the Prime Minister’s Unity utterance provides further proof to the Wary Public that he may be another Wolf in a sheep’s clothing and underneath his seemingly idealistic and progressive proclamations lays a hidden grand Ethiopian agenda to absorb more Somali territories under guise of economic collaboration.

Since the Somali Government has not offered strategic goals of its own, it is fair to assume that they have decided to work within the frame works of the Ethiopia’ strategic Planning. The Ethiopian vision and strategic plans benefits Ethiopia. No country in the world designs a strategic plan that benefits others, so, it is naïve to assume that the Ethiopian Strategic vision will benefit both countries equitably as declared by the Somali Government authorities.

Furthermore, it has been said that “Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes”. Many Somalis who observe Ethiopian politics have confirmed the similarity between the Tigray led government at its infancy and the current Abiy Ahmed government for their willingness to use soft power to charm and disarm their opponents. The early Tigray led government has instituted cosmetic changes to buy time to consolidate power. The Tigray led Government allowed Ethiopian regional governments to use their native languages for schools and for transacting business.

The Tigray led government have even entertained the idea that the Somali Region could secede and Join greater Somalia if they so wish. However, once the Tigray led government  have consolidated power, they started not only to recolonize Western Somalia (Ogaden region) but they have expanded their hegemony to the Somalia Republic and created Viceroys of the likes of Gabre to maintain perpetual instability and mayhem in all of the Somali Territories. There is a quote that says “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. The Somali people have been fooled one too many times and they should demand substantive concessions from Ethiopia’s New Prime Minister Similar to those given to Eritrea and Egypt. Finally, Somalis should err on the side of caution when it comes to forging relationships with Ethiopia.

Rashed Gulaid
Email: Libane@msn.com

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(Reuters) – Images of a Kentucky hunter posing with the body of a black giraffe she killed in South Africa have triggered an online backlash after going viral on social media.

A photo of Kentucky hunter Tess Thompson Talley posing with a giraffe she killed has gone viral. (Photo: Facebook)

Thousands of Twitter users expressed outrage at Tess Thompson Talley, 37, for killing the giraffe on a hunting trip last summer.

“Prayers for my once in a lifetime dream hunt came true today! Spotted this rare black giraffe bull and stalked him for quite awhile,” Talley wrote in a since-deleted post on Facebook, according to USA Today.

The post said the animal was more than 18 years old, weighed 4,000 lbs and yielded 2,000 lbs of meat. On average, giraffes have a 25-year lifespan, according to National Geographic.

Efforts to reach Talley for comment were unsuccessful.

The pictures went viral only recently after being reposted on Twitter last month by the website Africalandpost. The online condemnation was swift.

Debra Messing, an actress best known for her role in the NBC TV series “Will and Grace,” described Talley on Instagram as a “disgusting, vile, amoral, heartless, selfish murderer.”

Comedian Ricky Gervais, who often posts about animal conservation issues, called Talley a profanity on Twitter and lamented giraffes being endangered.

Talley defended herself in an email to Fox News in a story posted on its website, saying the giraffe was a member of a South African sub-species that is not rare.

“The numbers of this sub-species is actually increasing due, in part, to hunters and conservation efforts paid for in large part by big game hunting,” she said.

Big game hunting is legal in South Africa, where the industry and related tourism brings in $2 billion annually, according to the BBC.

Giraffes were classified as “vulnerable” in 2016 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which manages the list of endangered species worldwide. The number of giraffes in sub-Saharan Africa has dropped by nearly 40 percent since 1985, according to the organization.

Talley is not the first American who has come under fire for big game hunting. In 2015 a Minneapolis dentist prompted fury for killing Cecil, a famous Zimbabwean lion.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric both enjoy big-game hunting, according to their father. Pictures of them posing with animals they had killed in 2011, including a leopard, drew criticism after resurfacing in 2016.

In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed for some big game trophies to be imported from Africa on a case-by-case basis, reversing a ban initiated under Trump’s predecessor President Barack Obama.

Source: Reuters

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Ethiopian Airlines has taken delivery of its first of 30 Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

The Max 8 (ET-AVM) left Seattle on 1 July on a delivery flight via Dublin to Ethiopian’s Addis Ababa base.

Ethiopian, which will eventually have the largest 737 Max fleet in Africa, already operates 15 737-800s and three -700s, according to Flight Fleets Analyzer.

“We are glad to include the Boeing 737 Max 8…in our young and modern fleet of over 100 aircraft with an average age of less than five years,” says Ethiopian Airlines Group chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam.

Ethiopian has configured its 737 Max 8s to seat 160 passengers.

This delivery takes Ethiopian‘s Boeing fleet to 73 aircraft. Other Boeing types operated include the 737NG and 757 single-aisles and 767, 777 and 787 widebodies. The airline also has nine Airbus A350s and 18 Bombardier Q400s in service.

Source:Flight global

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WAJIR, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Halima Sheikh Ali is the proud owner of one of the few ATMs in Wajir town in northeast Kenya. But rather than doling out shilling notes, it dispenses something tastier: a fresh pint of camel milk.

“For 100 Kenyan shillings ($1), you get one liter of the freshest milk in Wajir County,” she says, opening a vending machine advertising “fresh, hygienic and affordable camel milk” in order to check the liquid’s temperature.

One of the world’s biggest camel producers, East Africa also produces much of the world’s camel milk, almost all of it consumed domestically.

In the northeast Kenyan county of Wajir, demand is booming among local people, who say it is healthier and more nutritious than cow’s milk.

“Camel milk is everything,” said Noor Abdullahi, a project officer for U.S.-based aid agency Mercy Corps. “It is good for diabetes, blood pressure and indigestion.”

But temperatures averaging 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the dry season, combined with the risk of dirty collection containers, mean the liquid can go sour in a matter of hours, he added, making it much harder to sell.

To remedy this, an initiative is equipping about 50 women in Hadado, a village 80km from Wajir, with refrigerators to cool the milk that remote camel herders send them via tuk-tuk taxi, plus a van to transport it daily to Wajir.

There a dozen women milk traders, including Sheikh Ali, sell it through four ATM-like vending machines, after receiving training on business skills such as accounting.

“The (milk) supply and demand are there. We just have to make it easier for the milk to get from one point to another,” said Abdullahi.

The project, which is part of the Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) program, is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and led by Mercy Corps.

FRESH AND LUCRATIVE

Asha Abdi, a milk trader in Hadado who operates one of the refrigerators with 11 other women, said she used to have to boil camel’s milk – using costly and smoky firewood – to prevent it turning sour.

“I spent 100 shillings ($1) a day on firewood, and the milk would often go bad by the time it got to Wajir as the (public) transport took over three hours,” she said.

Now Abdi and the other women in her group send about 500 liters of fresh milk to Wajir every day – a trip that takes just over an hour by van. They then reinvest the profits in other ventures.

“With the milk money I bought 20 goats,” said Abdi as she rearranged bags of sugar in her crowded kiosk.

“But my dream would be to export the camel milk to the United States,” she added. “I hear it’s like gold over there.”

DROUGHT-SAFE INVESTMENT

Amid hundreds of camels roaming stretches of orange dirt outside of Hadado, Gedi Mohammed sits under the shade of a small acacia tree.

“The (tuk-tuk) drivers should be here soon to buy my camel milk,” he said, sipping the precious liquid from a large wooden bowl.

In Kenya’s largely pastoralist Wajir County, prolonged drought is pushing growing numbers of the region’s nomadic herders to see camels – and their milk – as a drought-safe investment.

Mohammed, who used to own over 100 cows, said he exchanged them a decade ago for camels, “which drink a lot of water but can then survive eight days without another drop, when a cow will die after two days”.

But even camels suffer when the weather is really dry, he added.

“Drought is bad for business because with less food and water the camels produce less milk,” he said, impatiently waving at a teenage boy to fetch a straying camel.

“Business would be better if I had a vehicle to transport the milk to buyers myself,” said Mohammed, who said he has to travel ever-longer distances to find pastures for his animals.

“Right now I rely on the (tuk-tuk) drivers to find me, and you never know how long they will be.”

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Back in Wajir, Sheikh Ali said her group’s cooled milk ATM allows her to save about 5,000 shillings ($50) per month, as she no longer has to buy firewood to boil milk and can sell the fresh liquid at a higher price.

But although the vending machines are proving popular, they also have been plagued by technical issues, said Amina Abikar, who also works for Mercy Corps in Wajir.

“Sometimes the machines break down, or indicate that there is no milk left when there are still 100 liters” inside, she explained.

“So we have to wait for the machine supplier’s technician to travel all the way from Nairobi. It would be better to train someone locally,” she said.

Also slowing down business growth is the high rate of illiteracy among women involved in the project, Abikar said.

Sheikh Ali, who cannot read or write, relies on her son to operate the machine and check its various indicators.

“I would love to do it myself but I don’t know my ABCs,” she said, adding that she still feels “proud that I am one of the only fresh milk traders in Wajir”.

Source: Reuters

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Peace and Security Council takes advisory decisions on Libya, Somalia, South Sudan

By Gulsen Topcu

NOUAKCHOTT, The 31st summit of the African Union wrapped up late Monday in Mauritania’s capital with advisory decisions on Libya, Somalia and South Sudan.

Attending the two-day summit in Nouakchott were 22 African presidents, four prime ministers and two foreign ministers.

In a written statement, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council said international actors should resume their efforts to implement a UN plan which aims to secure stability, territorial integrity and security in Libya.

Emphasizing the humanitarian conditions in South Sudan, which are worsening day by day due to war, the statement said the parties should fulfil their obligations.

Regarding Somalia, the council said the African Union supports the activities of its federal government in the transition period. It also asked the UN to finance the African Union’s mission in Somalia.

Speaking at a news conference, African Union Chairperson and Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement was among the topics that topped the summit’s agenda.

Kagame said five more countries signed the agreement.

He added that the establishment of a free trade area would have a great impact on the welfare of the African continent.

Source: Anadolu Agency

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They also issued an immediate ban on the logging of native trees.

By Amardeep Bassey

The Somali terror group al-Shabaab, known for deadly attacks on thousands of people across east Africa, has banned plastic bags because of the threat they pose to the environment.

Al-Shabaab’s radio station, Radio Andalus, broadcast news of the ban was announced on Sunday, saying discarded plastic bags “pose a serious threat to the wellbeing of humans and animals alike.”

The jihadist group also issued an immediate ban on the logging of native trees, according to a Somali website that has voiced support for the group.

Mohamed Abu Abdalla, the group’s governor for southern Somalia’s Shabelle regions, said details of how the plan would be implemented would be announced later.

Raffaello Pantucci, counter-terror expert at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the move was designed to show the world that the group could govern.

“Other East African governments have banned plastic bags and this ban is al-Shabaab’s attempt to show their people that they too can implement laws and govern like any legitimate ruler.

“It’s quite ironic though that the same group has been involved in the banned ivory trade to fund its terror activities across the Horn of Africa.”

Plastic bags join a long list of outlawed items in al-Shabaab controlled areas, including western music, cinemas, satellite dishes, smartphones/fibre optic services and humanitarian agencies.

It is not the first time that al-Qaeda and its allies have promoted environmental policies.

In November 2016, a special issue of Inspire, published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, criticised the Obama administration for being “all talk and no action” on climate change and protecting the environment.

“The environment has suffered from America’s policies. In latest official statistics of International Health Organisation, it mentions that 92% of the world population are breathing polluted air.

“Moreover, 6.5 million people are dying annually because of air pollution,” the article in the magazine read.

It continued: “It is astonishing and deceptive to hear Obama talk about the necessity of acting boldly in combating the danger of greenhouse gases, yet his own state has not responded and dealt adequately in reducing these deadly emissions.”

Earlier this year the Taliban’s Department of Agriculture and Agronomics in Afghanistan directed its supporters to start planting trees.

The Taliban noted that a “key component of public welfare works for the prosperity of our people and homeland is agriculture and tree plantation.”

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada called on mujahideen fighters to “plant one or several fruit or non-fruit trees for the beautification of Earth and the benefit of almighty Allah’s creations.”

Source: HuffPost

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Photo| Cabdi Xaashi Keynaan oo abaarta ku ceyroobay, haddana kaba-tole ku ah Cadaado/Xasan Maxamed/Ergo

Former pastoralist Ibrahim Ismail Ige, 39, lives in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa, and earns a living as a grave digger.

It is a far cry from the life he used to lead, when he had a large herd of 60 camels and 200 goats in the rural areas.  His whole family depended on livestock for a living.

But the harsh drought that hit Somalia in 2016 turned his village, Dobo-bariyale, on the southern border with Ethiopia, into a desert.  All the animals died and the family moved to Nasa-Hablood 1 IDP camp, east of Hargeisa, where they live now.

“I never thought my income would be tied to the death of people,” Ibrahim told Radio Ergo.

Ibrahim learnt all about grave digging in the early part of 2017. Now it takes him three days to complete a grave and he sells the space for $40. It is a decent amount to support his 12-member family. Still, Ibrahim is sad that he has not been able to continue the proud pastoralist tradition that he inherited along with his livestock from his father.

“If I got my camels back I would not choose the city over the rural lifestyle.  Keeping livestock is prestigious and a respectable man’s job.  I would go back to the previous life any day, I was leading a very good life,” Ibrahim said.

Drought has brought to huge numbers of Somali pastoralists unemployment, food scarcity, displacement, and the stress of getting accustomed to a new life in the urban areas.  Many have had to accept that they can no longer build their lives around livestock.

Abdi Haashi Keynaan, 65, a former pastoralist and father of 20 children from his four wives, owned 700 goats in Galgadud region of central Somalia. His entire herd was wiped out in the drought.

Abdi’s family migrated to Adado town in 2016, and settled in Karama IDP camp. He started repairing shoes, earning $2-3 a day, which provided an important lifeline for his large family. They cook one meal to share together when they all come back home in the evening.

Despite working every hour he can, Abdi cannot make enough from shoe repairs to support his family. Sixteen of his children are of school age but do not go to school as he cannot pay the fees.

Abdi said he was able to provide enough for his children before and that he would love to go back to the rural lifestyle if he could get some more livestock. He enjoyed his life much better then.

Across Somalia, from north to south, destitute former herders have been displaced from the rural areas and turned to new trades or casual jobs. Abdi Deero Muhumed, 58, is working as a watchman at Al-Shifa Hospital in Bardera, Gedo region.  He earns $100 a month that takes care of his family living in Habaal-Cadey camp. He lost his 200 goats and 50 camels in Daar village, 30 km north of Bardera, after five years of drought.

The odd jobs that pastoralists have picked up have been a relief for their families. But many are a burden to relatives, who have let them move in to share their homes.

Abdisamad Mohamed Abdullahi, a professor of social sciences at the University of Hargeisa, sees the exodus of former herders to the urban areas as very damaging to the country’s economically important livestock sector.

He said it is vital that governmental authorities take strong measures to mitigate against future droughts, by planning for alternative water supplies including constructing water catchments and wells. This would enable pastoralists to move their livestock during drought and preserve their herds.

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Muqdisho, –Wafdi ka socda dawladda Qatar oo maanta soo gaaray Caasimmadda Soomaaliya ee Muqdisho ayaa kulan la yeeshay Ra’iisul Wasaaraha Xukuummada Federaalka Soomaaliya Mudane Xasan Cali Khayre oo ay ka wada hadleen horumarinta dekadaha Soomaaliya.

Wadfi ka socda Dawladda Qatar Oo Qiimayn Ku Sameynaya Dekadaha Soomaaliya

Wasiirka dekadaha iyo gaadiidka Badda Xukuummadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Marwo Maryan Aweys Jaamac oo kulanka qeyb ka aheyd ayaa sheegay in ujeedka wafdiga ay aheyd in daraasad iyo kormeer ay ku sameeyaan dekada Soomaaliya si loo ogaado dekadaha dayactirka u baahan iyo dekadaha Dhismaha cusub lagu sameynayo.

Wasiir Maryan ayaa sheegtay in booqashada wafdiga Qatar uu ku yimid Muqdisho ay fursad wanaagan oo dhanka shaqo abuurka iyo kobaca dhaqaalaha ah u tahay ummadda Soomaaliyeed, loona baahanyahay in looga faa’iideeyo.

Booqashada Wafdiga Qatar ka socda ay ku yimaadeen Muqdisho ayaa ka dambaysay booqashadii Madaxweyne Maxamed Cabdullaahi Maxamed (Farmaajo) iyo wafdi la socday ay ku tageen magaalada Dooxa halkaas oo leeskula soo af-gartay
in la fuliyo Mashruucyo dhawr ah oo khuseeya dekadaha Soomaaliya .

Wafdiga ka socda dawladda Qatar ayaa inta ay joogaan dalka waxa ay booqashooyin ku tagi doonaan maamul goboleedyada dalka si ay u tagaan dekadaha ay qiimeynta ku sameynayaan.

DHAMMAAD

Xafiiska Warbaahinta iyo Xiriirka
Muqdisho, Soomaaliya

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by Nita Bhalla

Residents walk in the rain at the Solai farm after their dam burst its walls, overrunning nearby homes, in Solai town near Nakuru, Kenya May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

After a severe drought last year, East Africa was hit by two months of heavy rains, disrupting the lives of millions of people in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda

By Nita Bhalla

NAIROBI,  Tens of thousands of survivors of Kenya’s worst floods in recent years are living on the brink with barely enough food to eat two months after the disaster, aid workers warned on Wednesday, calling on authorities to provide increased funding and support.

Incessant heavy rainfall in March and April caused dams and rivers in parts of the East African nation to overflow, submerging crops and washing away homes. At least 186 people died and more than 300,000 others were forced to flee.

While water levels have receded and many people have returned home, aid workers in the worst affected coastal region of Tana River county said most of those displaced were still living in camps with little means of survival.

“The majority of the 150,000 people displaced in Tana River are still in the camps as they have not received any information from authorities on whether it is safe to return or not,” said Matthew Cousins, humanitarian director for Oxfam Kenya.

“They also have nothing to go back to. Their homes and crops have been destroyed and they have not been given any help to rebuild their lives.”

After a severe drought last year, East Africa was hit by two months of heavy rains, disrupting the lives of millions of people in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Kenya experiences two rainy seasons – from March to May and then from October to November – but seasonal rainfall recorded this year has been the highest in 50 years, according to the country’s meteorological department.

In Tana River county, the floods not only damaged infrastructure such as roads, bridges and schools, it also submerged swathes of farmland and killed thousands of livestock.

A lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation in the camps has also resulted in a cholera outbreak with around 300 people contracting the potentially fatal disease, although aid workers said there had been no new cases for over 7 days.

“People need food. They do not have enough to eat. We are registering people in the camps and many children, women and elderly are looking weak and malnourished,” said Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the charity Arid Lands Development Focus.

“Some said the last good meal they ate was a chapatti and a cup of tea, that too was two or three days ago. It’s a very bad situation and the county appears not to have enough the funds required to support these people.”

The Tana River county government said in May it needed around $70 million to help flood survivors rebuild their homes and livelihoods, but aid workers said funds promised by the federal government had not come through.

County officials confirmed there had been a delay in funding from the central government, but said that funds would be provided, adding that people should return home soon.

“I do not know how much of the $70 million we have received, but we haven’t received all of it,” Salim Bagana, secretary of the Tana River country government, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“There were some delays but now the money is coming and people should be going home. We will help them to restart their lives and we ask our humanitarian partners to also help.”

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

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The IFJ backed calls by its affiliate NUSOJ for the authorities in Somaliland to stop the persecution of independent journalists following the arrest of TV reporter in Borame (Somaliland), on Tuesday, 3 July.

The arrest of Ahmed Horri a reporter for privately owned Horn Cable TV was ordered by the Governor of Awdil region Mr. Abdirahman Ahmed Ali. According to local journalists, he was infuriated by a question posed by Horri in a press conference on 30 June. The journalist had questioned the governor about the activities of a secessionist armed movement in the Awdal region.

Consistent with the information given by the same sources, the governor rang the journalist on the night of 30 June and threatened him with arrest. He was arrested three days later when he was returning home.

The journalist is still detained at Borama police station and has not been officially charged with any crime.

“The detention of Horri Ahmed Horri reveals the mounting intolerance of Somaliland officials to the work of independent journalists and private media. It is abysmal for a journalist to spend a night in a police cell for asking an uncomfortable question,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.

The IFJ strongly condemned the arbitrary detention and urges the Somaliland authorities to unconditionally release Horri. The IFJ is deeply concerned about recent attacks against journalists by Somaliland authorities which have the effect of silencing criticism, public protests and suppressing the dissemination of information on the territorial conflict.

Source: IFJ

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Muqdisho, – Ra’iisul Wasaaraha Xukuummadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Mudane Xasan Cali Khayre ayaa daah-furay kulanka wadatashiga Qorshe wadaagga guddiga wada xaajoodka iyo Hey’adaha ku shaqada leh siyaasadda loo dhanyahay oo maanta ka furmay magaalada Muqdisho.

Ra’iisul Wasaare Khayre ayaa sheegay in Shirkaan uu muhiimmad gaar ah u leeyahay ummada Soomaaliyeed lagana doonayo ka qeyb galayaasha in ay la yimaadaan wax qabad muuqda, si natiijo wanaagsan uga soo baxdo.

“Howsha aad isugu timaadeen waxa ay ka tarjumeysa mustaqbalka ummadda Soomaaliyeed. Waa bud-dhigga qaranimada Soomaaliya. Waxa aad isugu timaadeen sidii ummadda Soomaaliyeed aad ugu sameyn lahaydeen mustaqbal ka duwan kan aan hadda heysanno” ayuu yiri Ra’iisul Wasaare Xasan Cali Khayre.

“Meeshaan aad fadhidaan waxa ay ka tarjumeysaa in aad fursad u leedihiin in aad qeyb ka tahihiin qaabeynta dastuurka ay ummada Soomaaliyeed ku dhaqmeyso shanta boqol oo sano ee soo socota. Waxa ay ka tarjumeysaa in aad ka arrinsaneysaan ummada Soomaaliyeed sidii awoodda gacantooda loogu soo celin lahaa oo 2020-ka doorasho qof iyo cod ah ay u ga dhici laheyd dalka iyo in la dhameestiro geedi socodka federaaleynta. Waxa aan rabaa in maalmaha aad halkaan isugu imaaneysaan aysan idinka xummaan, Saacadi in aysan idinka khasaarin. Maskax shiil ayaa halkaan leesugu yimid”, ayuu Ra’iisul Wasaaruhu kula dardaarmay ka qeyb galayaasha kulanka.

Kulanka wadatashiga Qorshe Wadaagga Guddiga wada Xaajoodka iyo Hey’adaha ku Shaqada leh Siyaasadda loo dhanyahay oo ay ka qeyb gelayaan dhammaan hey’adaha iyo wasaaradaha ku shaqada leh Tubta Siyaasadda loo dhanyahay ayaa loogu tala galay in uu socdo afar maalin uuna soo xirmo July 8, 2018.

Xafiiska Warbaahinta iyo Xiriirka

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Police are hunting for arsonists who torched the car of a Saudi female cashier in Makkah on Monday. (Via Social Media)

RUBA OBAID

JEDDAH: Saudis throughout the country have rushed to offer support and comfort to a woman whose car was set on fire by arsonists.
Like thousands of Saudi women, Salma Al-Sharif, 33, who works as a cashier in Makkah, took to the roads when the de facto ban on women driving was lifted last month.

But her new freedom came to an end when a neighbor knocked on her door just before dawn on Monday, and told her father her car was on fire.
Al-Sharif said the car was deliberately set alight by men “opposed to women drivers.”

She said she had faced abuse from men in her neighborhood soon after she began driving in a bid to ease her financial pressures.

“Half of my salary of 4,000 riyals was spent on a driver to take me to my workplace and drive my elderly parents,” Al-Sharif said. “But from the first day of driving I was subjected to insults from men.”

Makkah police said the incident was being investigated, and “we are searching for the culprits.”

Saudis from across the social spectrum gave Al-Sharif their support. Lina Almaeena, a Shoura Council member and one of the first Saudi women to drive, said this was an “isolated incident, definitely,” and Saudi laws were strict.

Sahar Nassif, another driver, told Arab News: “This is no more than an isolated act, it will never make society back down on women driving. Saudi society is 100 percent ready and supportive of women driving. There is no conflict at all.

“These attackers are sick minded and they will be harshly punished by law. This is an objection to royal decisions, and a form of harassment, and I hope they receive what they deserve.”

Saudis on social media took the same view. Manal (@mnal50) tweeted: “I pray that they get captured, jailed, and pay double the worth of the car for the psychological harm they caused her.”

Hanouf BinHimd (@DrHanouf) said on Twitter: “Where are their education, morals, ethics, religious value?! I hope she gets compensation, and those offenders get captured.”

Some even volunteered transport for Al-Sharif until justice is done. @capt_haitham said: “I am ready to get her a car until things get easier for her.”

Source: ArabNews

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Kismaayo (WDN)- Wareegtao ka soo baxday xafiiska Madaxweynaha Dowlad Goboleedka Jubbaland, ayaa lagu shaaciyay isku shaandheyn kooban oo lagu  sameeyay Golaha Wasiirada Jubbaland.

Isku shaandeyntaasi oo dhawaanahanba la is la dhex marayay magaalada Kismaayo, oo uu ka socday ol’ole xooggan oo ay wadeen wasiiradu, odayo dhaqameedyo, iyo dad badan oo danaynayay in ay saameyn ku yeeshaan saaxadda siyaasaddeed ee Jubbaland, ayaa habeenkii xalay, wareegto ka soo baxday xafiiska Madaxweynaha lagu shaaciyay sku shaandheyntaasi, oo u badan kala wareejinta golihii wasiirada ee horea.

Haddaba isku shaandheyntan oo lagu sheegay in ay tahay hordhac, ayaan u muuqan isbadal xooggan oo wax ka badali kara caqabadaha hortaagan Jubbaland ama wax ku soo kordhin doona qorshayaasha horumarineed iyo nabadgelyo ee horyaala Dowlad Goboleedka Jubbaland.

Wareegtadan isku shaandheynta oo nuqul ka mid ahi soo gaadhay WardheerNews, ayaa u qorneyd sida hoos ku xusan:

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