(SomaliNet) The Somali transitional parliament in Baidoa city, southwest of Somalia on Saturday overwhelminly approved the plan by the national reconciliation body led by Ali Mahdi Mohamed, former Somali president. In todays session, 151 of 160 lawmakers voted Yes to reconciliation plan which the interim government announced earlier to be held in Mogadishu in mid June, as the deputy speaker of the parliament Osman Elmi Boqore says.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi who spoke to the MPs in the hall said the aim of the reconciliation conference is to end the difference between the rival clans for the last 16 years. The body of the reconciliation meeting will work on the federal charter and on the policy of the government, said Ali Gedi.
The approval by the parliament came as the chairman of the reconciliation committee Ali Mahdi Mohamed and his delegation are in Nairobi for talks with the donor nations over the fund of the meeting.
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05/28/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The Ethiopian government has reopened on Sunday its embassy in the Somalia capital Mogadishu for the first time in 16 years to restore the relationship between the two countries as the Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin visits Somalia.
In the reopening ceremony, attended by officials of Ethiopia and Somalia governments and officials from the African peacekeepers from Uganda, has been held inside the embassy near the presidential palace. Security was tightened very highly around the area of the embassy and the president compound as heavily armed Ethiopian, Ugandan and Somalia forces were deployed in all the streets in and out the area.
Somali interim president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and his prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and other government officials were present at the ceremony. I am very happy to welcome you with this ceremony of the reopening of the Ethiopian embassy here in Mogadishu, Mr. President and Mr. prime minister, I am thanking you for honoring us by your presence in this historical occasion of reopening of the embassy after more than 16 years, said Mr. Mesfin.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2007 00:00 ||
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President Robert Mugabe's government is preparing to seize majority shares in all of Zimbabwe's foreign-owned businesses and mines, a move that economists warn would be as damaging as the widespread land seizures in the country. Top of the list of companies expected to be targeted are London-listed mining groups such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American, though recent remarks by Zimbabwean ministers suggested banks such as Standard Chartered and Barclays could also be hit.
One minister said "imperialist companies" would be targeted as they had been operating with what the president described as a "sinister, regime-change agenda", according to reports.
Last night, a senior source at one British company with a presence in Zimbabwe said any such move would "confirm Mugabe as operating what is, to all intents and purposes, a terrorist regime".
More importantly, they're the only ones with any cash in Zim-bob-we. Especially the banks.
Mr Mugabe's cabinet has approved proposed legislation to force all foreign-owned companies to cede 51% of their shares to black Zimbabweans. The empowerment bill is going through a final drafting process before it is presented to parliament, said top government officials.
The Mugabe government has already drafted an amendment to the Mining Act, which requires all foreign-owned mines to have 51% of their shares owned by "indigenous" Zimbabweans. In both proposed bills it is widely understood that the new black Zimbabwean shareholders would have to be closely tied to Mr Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF. Officials have said that if companies cannot find acceptable indigenous Zimbabweans then the government can make suggestions.
"How 'bout my good friend Charlie? He's always wanted to own a mine."
Economists warn the actions would severely hurt Zimbabwe's already battered economy, which is suffering 3,700% inflation, the world's highest. Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by 50% since 1999, an unprecedented contraction in a country not at war, according to the World Bank. The seizure of majority stakes in businesses and mines would increase inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption, according to many business executives, who point to the disastrous land seizures.
No, reeeeeeeaaally?
Independent analysts say the new moves are simply the latest example of Mr Mugabe's plundering of the economy. "Mugabe operates on a patronage system and he is running out of farms to give away to his supporters," said the independent Harare economist John Robertson. "Now he is looking for new areas of the economy to hand over. If this legislation becomes law, it will be like legalising theft. It will be a death knell to many companies."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This would be Sustainable Development, I guess.
#5
Mugabe is the poster boy for why sub-Saharan Africa is a complete and total basket case. Economically, socially, health-wise, human rights, ecologically, industrially; You name it and it's screwed like a two-bit whore, which is exactly what Mugabe is. Tribalism continues to plague our our world, be it feudal African kleptocracies or terrorist Islamic cesspits. While the former should be allowed to slip silently beneath the waves of its own accord, the latter going similarly unattended is out of the question. Islam's obsession with global domination makes it far more dangerous than the witch doctor economics of failed African states. Unlike Africa's thugocracies, Islam will have to forcibly be held beneath those same waves until the bubbles stop coming up.
#6
The Mugabe 12 Step program for National Success!
1. Find the former S. Rhodesian farmers with the most successful production...nationalize the land and give back to the former workers who stop working and now become proud squaters.
2. Find the most profitable tobacco fields, take them over, scare or kill off the previous successful operators, and give the land back to the ganja growing squaters.
3. With limited or no additional Zimbawan land owners producing, or even living in the country any longer, identify the most successful internationally owned businesses, nationalize them and drive them out of the country. Give the empty headquarters buildings and former bank buildings to squaters to live in.
4-12. These are no longer part of the Mugabe 12 step program. The first three were so successful he natioanlized the last 9.
#7
No wonder the left loves this guy... They have been talking abuot this kind of legalized theft for years, and now this guy has the means and the balls to actually do it. I bet this gives your typical liberal wet dreams...
Really how fast do you think a Pelosi or Reid would do this if they could?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
05/28/2007 22:29 Comments ||
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More nastiness in a part of the world we don't pay enough attention to.
BUKAVU, DRCongo - Suspected Rwandan Hutu rebels stabbed to death at least 17 villagers in the volatile South Kivu region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN-backed radio station said Sunday.
An official in Kaniola, where the attacks occurred, told Okapi radio that the Saturday night incidents also resulted in about 20 injuries and several kidnappings. The FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) attacked Kaniola around 11:00 pm (2200 GMT) (on Saturday).
They killed them with knives. There are 12 dead, local governor Celestin Cibalonza told AFP after visiting the scene.
Villagers contacted by AFP said the death toll was 15 but added that those kidnapped may also have been killed. No independent verification was immediately available. A young girl who was able to escape from them this morning said that they had killed three hostages, Oscar Zihaliwa, member of a local association of village elders, told AFP by phone. The girl also said rebels had kidnapped at least 18 villagers.
Kaniola, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the provincial capital Bukavu, has for years been the target of attacks and kidnappings.
The incident comes after the Congolese army, backed by United Nations troops, launched an offensive against rebels in the area in April in which at least one rebel camp was destroyed. It was a reprisal. They targeted houses. The victims included the father of a girl kidnapped by the FDLR and recently freed by the army, said Zihaliwa. They silently entered the house. They started by strangling some victims before stabbing them to stop them raising the alarm, he said. After the massacre they fled towards the hills.
Rwandan Hutu rebels -- numbered by the United Nations at more than 10,000 -- have been operating in the forests and mountains of eastern DRC ever since the genocide of at least 800,000 mostly minority Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2007 00:00 ||
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Gateway Pundit has the details and plenty of photos.
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05/28/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
From the linked site, Wizbang - Tear gas and military force is needed, sometimes, while seizing the equipment of opposition media, in order to form a more perfect socialist republic, you see. It's clear to see why Chavez is the left's latest hero - he's willing to bust the heads and send in the tanks to crush the opposition. Not like that wimpy Pelosi . . .
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/28/2007 6:40 Comments ||
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#2
Sent in teh tanks to crush the opposition. Will Danny Glover (communist anti-american dirtbag) return the $18 Mil that Hugo gave him to make a propaganda movie? Will RFK Jr. quit pimping for Hugo's oil donations? I bet not. The left won't say a word
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2007 8:34 Comments ||
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#3
It is ironic how the same American Leftists who hold up BusHitler placards and rail at supposed American fascism also wear T-shirts honoring the mass murdering Communist revolutionary Che Guevara and are great admirers of the increasingly Stalinesque Chavez.
#6
Well, jimmah had to support ol Hugo becuase if he didn't declare the election kosher, then there might have been violence or a generilized disruption in the good vibes or something...
maybe bad ju-ju
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
05/28/2007 22:33 Comments ||
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Police in Germany are braced for a violent dress rehearsal today for next month's G8 summit as 100,000 leftists descend on Hamburg to protest at a meeting of EU and Asian foreign ministers. The Hamburg demo - to be followed by a rally and rock concert on Saturday in the Baltic port of Rostock - are seen as tests of the Left's determination to wreck the summit and the power of the state to stop them.
Those who live in the area think the summit is a catastrophe waiting to happen despite the £100 million in security costs before an officer is deployed.
Germany is on a collision course with the usual collection of leftists and anti-globalisation protesters, and the feared clash has a singular and sinister element which was missing from previous G8 battles.
This time, police say, the disparate groups protesting against US president George Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair and others have joined to form disciplined terrorist-like cells which have trained in public parks and used the power of the internet to come together with a single goal: to breach security and bring havoc to the conference.
Germany has one of Europe's most militant anti-globalisation movements - and a recent history of left-wing terrorism. In an attempt to stop them, the tiny seaside resort of Heiligendamm on the Baltic coast has been transformed into Germany's biggest postwar security operation. Since January, workers have been building an enormous barrier that ploughs through the landscape for almost eight miles, nearly 8ft tall, anchored with 4,800 concrete slabs and crowned by four rows of barbed wire. Thick rolls of razor-wire are wrapped around the barbed wire. There will be 16,000 police officers on duty, as well as 1,000 specialist soldiers including snipers and intelligence operatives. Nine surface vessels are already in place in the waters off Heiligendamm to counter any seaborne attempt to disrupt the gathering, while AWACS planes and Tornado jets will seal the airspace above. Draconian measures to prevent open warfare in front of the fence include police interception of mail, bugging phones and spying in cyberspace.
Police also said they had taken odour samples from a handful of left-wingers to help sniffer dogs track them down later if needed - a surveillance method widely used by the Stasi secret police of the former East Germany.
In recent weeks, police have conducted controversial raids on left-wing centres and groups that authorities say have come together in a "disciplined, organised and subversive way" to bring terror to the conference. Petrol bombs have been seized along with plans to distract the police guarding the fence while others storm it. Yesterday the interior minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, admitted the government is worried about the potential bloodshed. Those who live in the area think the summit is a catastrophe waiting to happen despite the £100 million in security costs before an officer is deployed.
Knut Abramowski, the head of the police's "Special Construction Organisation", is in the final phases of planning the total shutdown of Heiligendamm. A special "border" crossing from the outside world to the homes and shops where people live and work has been built and dubbed Checkpoint Charlie. All residents will be issued with special microchip-studded ID cards which will have to be checked at this concrete frontier post for the summit's duration. Airport X-ray machines have been brought in, tents erected for the police to process those allowed to enter and leave legally: one of them contains mountains of dried dog food for the hundreds of police sniffer dogs. Manhole covers have been welded shut, rooftops put out of bounds and some rooms commandeered - for a fee - by police to position sharpshooters.
The advance guard of the summit's opponents has set up shop in a former school among the housing projects of Rostock. The city has provided the rooms. "It's been weeks since we've been able to go anywhere unaccompanied," said Monty Schaedel, the regional co-ordinator of the protest alliance, which comprises about 30 groups including Greenpeace and Christians for Socialism. Ingolf Dinse, the police chief, said: "There is the possibility that undesirables will slip through. But we'll have more police here than you've ever seen."
#1
That's $2,500 per lefty. Can't they just pay them to go away?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/28/2007 7:08 Comments ||
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#2
THE PRINCE OF POMPADOODLE
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Lived behind a castle wall,
Behind a moat, behind a guard
Of twenty soldiers tall.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Was the safest man alive.
Each day he wrote how long he'd lived
And multiplied by five.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Would survive, he did decide,
Five times as long as he had been
Alive before he died.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Called in the castle sage
For his advice in this pursuit
Of long and fulsome age.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Heard in horror from this friend
That somewhere in the palace
Was a cur who'd seek his end!
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Scarce could credit a belief
His years might soon be sneaked away
By some ungrateful thief.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
Sent his every friend away
And sat alone, safe, locked alive,
To count another day.
The Prince of Pompadoodle
May hoard each empty hour,
But none can know; no word comes from
The silent stony tower.
Walt Kelly
Posted by: bruce ||
05/28/2007 7:23 Comments ||
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#3
It is outrageous that this play-acting fascist fantasy should be indulged at the risk and expense of democracy. These "demonstrators" should be treated as being in a state of apprehended insurrection and shot down in the streets.
#4
These protesters are not the hippies of yore who wore tie-died shirts, listened to Bob Dylan, and engaged in promiscuous sex while tripping on hallucinatory drugs.
These are anarchists, hardcore internet-organized Marxist revolutionaries, and a variety of other violent and disruptive quasi-socialist malcontent groups.
There should be well-defined spaces where protests will be permitted, with a carefully spelled out set of allowable behaviors. To prevent the destruction and confrontation which these groups really seek, the authorities should react with considerable force and vigor at the first sign of even the tiniest infraction, and make no apologies for maintaining the public order.
There would be no excuse for allowing the area to degenerate into the lawless state of a French suburb after the recent election.
#1
Idiots. I mean, all rancor aside, this kind of move is just incredibly stupid from a strategic point of view. Splitting their movement, just so that some of their members can fellate their own sense of self-righteousness...I mean, wow. This has got to be the stupidest decision since "stand fast".
#2
One aspect that must be noted is that Amnesia International is trying to AVOID an all out, concerted program/campaign elevating attention to, and condemnation of, rape as an illegal weapon of war. Why? Because United Nations Peacekeepers are guilty of this crime against humanity as well. This would mean AI going against the UN, and that would be suicidal for an organization whose international credentials are dependent on the organization they are condemning. Thus, they advocate legalizing the equvalent cover-up of the crime by aborting the human evidence. Not any different in motivation than the fathers paying abortionists to kill their own sons and daughters before they see the light of day.
American Indian tribes were aware of what their enemy was trying to do when they raped their women. Thus, no stigma was attached to the women, the children were accepted into the tribe, and the males were raised as warriors who could conceivably fight, and kill, their own biological father, half uncles, and half brothers. They not only got mad, they got EVEN.
#3
Yes, well, American Indians were smart. Most real Stone Age people are, because life is a lot harder and shorter for the dumb ones. But the kind of "idealistic" idiots that make up AI, the kind that refuse to see at least half of the reality of the world they move in, that kind would have Darwin Awarded themselves out of existence in the AmeriInds' world.
#4
This is very intentional. The left always tries to infiltrate, then co-opt the agenda of organizations to "the cause".
Essential to this is to force the organization to embrace something offensive to non-leftists, that has nothing to do with the organization. This is done to purge the remaining non-leftists from the organization.
From that point on, the original agenda stops being the focus of the organization, except on paper. Soon, AI will come out to advocate global warming, international taxation, bureaucratic not democratic rule, and all the other bulldada of the left.
The funniest part is how they will support authoritarian regimes that torture.
#5
Amnesty International has long been an anti-American tranzi front group, so anything which can fracture it or diminish its reach or credibility is good news.
Lina Joy has been disowned by her family, shunned by friends and forced into hiding -- all because she renounced Islam and embraced Christianity in Muslim-majority Malaysia. After a seven-year legal struggle, Malaysia's highest court will decide Wednesday whether her constitutional right to choose her religion overrides Islamic law that prohibits Malay Muslims from leaving Islam.
The verdict will have profound implications in a country where Islam is increasingly conflicting with minority religions, challenging Malaysia's reputation as a moderate Muslim and multicultural nation that guarantees freedom of worship.
Joy's case began in 1998 when, after converting, she applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department refused to drop "Muslim" from the religion column. She appealed to a civil court but was told she must go to Islamic Shariah courts. But Joy, 42, argued she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian. Subsequent appeals ruled that the Shariah court should decide the case.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are Malay Muslims, whose civil, family, marriage and personal rights are decided by Shariah courts. Minorities -- ethnic Chinese, Indians and others -- are governed by civil courts.
If Joy loses her appeal and continues to insist she is Christian, it could lead to charges of apostasy and a jail sentence. "Our country is at a crossroad," Joy's lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said. "Are we evolving into an Islamic state or are we going to maintain the secular character of the constitution?"
Malaysia's constitution describes the country as a secular state but recognizes Islam as the official religion.
Many Islamic nations have similar laws. Saudi Arabia neither permits conversion from Islam nor allows other religions. Jordan, considered one of the most tolerant countries in the Middle East, convicted a Muslim man for converting to Christianity several years ago, taking away his right to work and annulling his marriage.
#3
And if the court knuckles under, it is the end of Malaysia as a real nation. It will descend into the dark ages and become another hellhole like Pak land and Bangla. Any people dreaming of a better life will then have to flee. Too bad episodes like this can't be hung on ten foot banners in front of all lefties and do-gooders everywhere. With a trailer that reads, "Think about it. You're next."
#4
...episodes like this can't be hung on ten foot banners in front of all lefties and do-gooders everywhere. With a trailer that reads, "Think about it. You're next."
Hmmm.... thanks for the idea, Woozle Elmeter2970. I got a date with Kinko's now.
#6
"Muslim groups, however, say Joy is questioning the position of Islam by taking the case to the civil courts.
It is not about one person, it is about challenging the Islamic system in Malaysia, said Muslim Youth Movement President Yusri Mohammad, who set up a coalition of 80 Islamic groups to oppose Joys case."
She doesn't have a chance at all but she's indeed very brave. M'sia is getting more and more into the slimehole of that supremacist' relgion'.
Pro-junta thugs in Burma clashed with hundreds of supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hurling abuse and preventing them from marching to a prayer vigil for the detained Nobel laureate, witnesses said. Holding photos of the 61-year-old, about 500 members of her National League for Democracy party shouted "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" as they staged a rally outside the party's headquarters in Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
The supporters had intended to go on to a Buddhist pagoda in downtown Rangoon to pray for Suu Kyi's release, but were blocked by about 100 supporters of the junta, leading to a tense stand-off, witnesses said. The junta supporters shouted abuse at the other side for about 15 minutes, and one NLD elected member was dragged away by them, witnesses said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
"Please understand that we are not frightened by your threats ... we will proceed with peaceful gatherings," Min Ko Naing, a prominent anti-government activist, was quoted as telling the junta supporters. "We can pray for her from here," he said from outside the NLD head office.
Police vans were parked near by. The rally ended peacefully.
The junta is also believed to be holding about 1,200 political prisoners, most of them elected members of the NLD.
The rally comes two days after the junta extended Suu Kyi's house arrest for a fifth year. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 11 of the past 17 years in detention.
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A roadside bomb and a clash between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels killed six people in eastern Sri Lanka on Sunday, the military said. The bomb hit a civilian truck in Thirukkovil village in eastern Ampara district, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said, killing three people. He blamed the blast on Tamil Tiger rebels who have often exploded bombs targeting military vehicles.
Hours earlier, Navy sailors killed three suspected separatist Tamil rebels during a ground operation in a jungle area north of the eastern port town of Trincomalee, a Defence Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) The Somali transitional parliament in Baidoa city, southwest of Somalia on Saturday overwhelminly approved the plan by the national reconciliation body led by Ali Mahdi Mohamed, former Somali president. In todays session, 151 of 160 lawmakers voted Yes to reconciliation plan which the interim government announced earlier to be held in Mogadishu in mid June, as the deputy speaker of the parliament Osman Elmi Boqore says. 
President Robert Mugabe's government is preparing to seize majority shares in all of Zimbabwe's foreign-owned businesses and mines, a move that economists warn would be as damaging as the widespread land seizures in the country. Top of the list of companies expected to be targeted are London-listed mining groups such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American, though recent remarks by Zimbabwean ministers suggested banks such as Standard Chartered and Barclays could also be hit.
Police in Germany are braced for a violent dress rehearsal today for next month's G8 summit as 100,000 leftists descend on Hamburg to protest at a meeting of EU and Asian foreign ministers. The Hamburg demo - to be followed by a rally and rock concert on Saturday in the Baltic port of Rostock - are seen as tests of the Left's determination to wreck the summit and the power of the state to stop them. 
Pro-junta thugs in Burma clashed with hundreds of supporters of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hurling abuse and preventing them from marching to a prayer vigil for the detained Nobel laureate, witnesses said. Holding photos of the 61-year-old, about 500 members of her National League for Democracy party shouted "Free Aung San Suu Kyi" as they staged a rally outside the party's headquarters in Burma's largest city, Rangoon.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A roadside bomb and a clash between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels killed six people in eastern Sri Lanka on Sunday, the military said. The bomb hit a civilian truck in Thirukkovil village in eastern Ampara district, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said, killing three people. He blamed the blast on Tamil Tiger rebels who have often exploded bombs targeting military vehicles.
