Interview: Mahamed Ibrahim Egal (Former Prime Minister of Somalia)
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By: Ayanle Dad
contact at [email protected]
It seems like yesterday our proud nation was standing up for the rights of the Somali people in the Ogaden. Today leaders in the autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland are competing over how many Somali nationals they can hand over to Ethiopia. Where we once stood side by side to help free oppressed Africans, we now watch hopelessly as our country is occupied. Where we once said “A qoon laan waa iftiin la aan”, we now hear the words “Qabiil la aan wa magac la aan”.
My fellow country men pride is the mask tribalism wears to conceal its true face, anarchy. Only a prideful and hard headed people who have achieved a minimal amount of education would dare pursue a divisive and backward system like tribalism. And only a divided people with no sense of nationalism would continue on this course after witnessing its setbacks for the past two decades.
To this day the only person who has taken control of our nation’s destiny is Meles Zenawi. In a wicked turn of events, our dream of uniting all Somalis under one flag has become a reality. That flag is the Ethiopian flag. Today Mr. Zenawi can take sober satisfaction that he has managed, through deception and brute force, what his forefathers could never accomplish. Today every region of Greater Somalia is under his control. He may control through political means as is the case in Djibouti, Somaliland and Puntland or straight out military conquest as in southern Somali and the Ogaden. This should truly bring shame to anyone who calls themselves Somali, for this has happened under our watch.
Every generation is defined by what it doest to affect the lives of the next. Two generations ago, a privileged few saw the tears, sweat and dreams that were hundreds of years in the making. The Creation of Somalia as a nation. The generation that came after decided to sleep on the wheel. Actually they ran half way around the world to live off food stamp and hold miniscule jobs that required little to no education. Those who couldn’t run from their problems opted to stay and kill each other, because god forbid if they don’t share the same grandpa. This generation faces the hurdles of many challenges and obstacles. From unseating bitter old men from the halls of power to rebuilding a war tattered nation that has little infrastructure. This generation does not intend to let their nation and people flounder in the backwash of this new century like the last. This is a challenge we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to overcome inshallah.
Since the fall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia’s ongoing civil war has caused more than 300,000 deaths. In recent days, more than 90,000 have fled the Somali capital. Since the collapse of dictator Siad Barre’s government in 1991, a number of Islamist groups have sprung up all over Somalia and have banded together as the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). This organisation rivals the interim government of Somalia, composed of former warlords and their factions. The present regime has been divided by internal quarrels and disagreements about the presence of external peacekeepers on Somali soil. more
Ahmed Samatar from Macaleister College debates National Defense University’s Andre LeSage on Somalia and the US assassination of Aden Hashi Ayro– PBS News Hour, May 1, 2008
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(Mogadishu, Somalia) — Ethiopian troops allied to Somalia’s shaky government opened fire on civilians in a street in southwestern Somalia, killing 13 on Wednesday after an explosion there killed two soldiers, witnesses said.
Dhagayso 
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A young man was shot and killed when thousands of Somalis protested in Mogadishu on Monday over food traders’ refusal to take old currency notes amid spiraling inflation,
The man believed to be the head of al-Qaida in Somalia has been killed in a US air strike, an Islamic insurgent group claimed today. The al-Shabaab militia said the assault killed nine people, including its leader, Aden Hashi Ayro, and his brother.