From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Sep 27 2008 - 07:11:36 EDT
Somali leader to resign 'in few days'
Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:45:28 GMT
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's purported decision comes after his failed attempt to travel to New York.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is reportedly planning to step down as the country's head of state within the next few days.
Sources inside the presidential palace, Villa Somalia, claimed that President Abdullahi Yusuf had informed his confidants of his decision to resign in the coming days, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Abdullahi Yusuf announced the imminent move in a meeting with his close relatives, citing his failed trip to New York as a contributing factor.
The trip was scuttled due to a blockade imposed by Al-Shabaab fighters which banned all flights to or from Mogadishu's International Airport, Aden Adde.
The fighters launched mortar attack on the soldiers, belonging to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who had violated the ban.
Over 170 civilians were killed after AMISOM's Ugandan and Burundi troops and gunmen from the president's clan, Hawiye, began shelling Mogadishu's civilian neighborhoods while responding to the fighters' attacks.
No amount of effort on the part of either his fellow clansmen, the Ethiopian forces in the country or the AMISOM troops could salvage the trip, the president was quoted as saying.
He was also said to have contrasted the failure with the trouble-free landing of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein's flight on Thursday.
The Somali prime minister was returning to the country from a trip to Djibouti where he had attended talks over programs, appealing all opposition groups to join the peace talks with the government.
The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), to which Al-Shabaab serves as the military wing, has denounced Yusuf Ahmed as Somalia's leader.
Somalia experienced a period of relative calm during the UIC's rule over the country which came to an end following the 2006 US-backed invasion that was launched for the purpose of backing up the country's embattled transitional government.
Somalis subject to chemical attacks
Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:28:09 GMT
Some 25 Somali mothers complain their children are turning blind and deaf because Ugandan and Burundian soldiers are using chemical weapons.
Talking to the media, the women said that at least 10 children have lost their mental bearings and 30 others have become blind and deaf as the Ugandan and Burundian forces are using new types of chemical weapons when they attack and destroy their houses, Press TV correspondent reported late Friday from Mogadishu.
They say that these soldiers are not peacekeepers but peace killers, our correspondent quoted them as saying.
They also said that these so-called peacekeepers are worse than the Ethiopian troops. First the Ethiopian troops massacred the civilians and now the troops from Burundi and Uganda are doing the same, they said.
The suffering mothers are calling on international fact-finding teams, particularly the United Nations, international community and the Islamic world to investigate as to how these peacekeepers are destroying their houses and their children are going insane, our correspondent reported.
The mothers are also holding the Uganda government, its president and the military officers responsible for the civilian massacre taking place.
Our correspondent further said that more than 400 injured women and children have been admitted to hospitals while thousands of civilians are again fleeing from their homes for safe havens.
Pirates demand $35M for Ukrainian ship
Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:22:54 GMT
Somali pirates have demanded a $35 million ransom to free a Ukrainian vessel they had captured which was carrying tanks and munitions.
"The gunmen are demanding $35 million to release the MV Faina and her crew," said Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program.
The Ukrainian freighter, called the Faina, was carrying 33 T-72 tanks, munitions, grenade launchers and other armaments to the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Thursday when it was hijacked by pirates about 200 miles off the coast of Somalia.
Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, an advisor to presidency of the semi-autonomous Puntland region in northeast Somalia, said on Saturday that the pirates were heading towards the port of Hobyo and Haradhere in central Somalia to find a place where they can unload any light military supplies on board the ship.
It is highly unlikely that the pirates will be able to unload the tanks on board due to tanks heavy weight which requires special equipment.
Meanwhile, the Russian warship Neustrashimy was headed for the Somali waters in response to "the rise in pirate attacks, including against Russian citizens," Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said Friday.
RIA Novosti also quoted the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Viktor Mardusin, as saying that the frigate will stay near Somalia 'for more than two months in order to guarantee the safety of Russian ships'.
Pirates also hijacked a Greek chemical tanker with 19 crew on board on Friday on its way from Europe to the Middle East.
Friday's attack was the 15th incident of ship hijacking in the dangerous off Somalia waters in the past two months, taking the figure as high as 62 since January, while 15 ships with more than 300 crew are still under the pirates' control.
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