Beautiful Somalia

Someone who has never seen the beauty of Somali women before may be amazed at their extraordinary features at first sight. Before the collapse of Siyad Barre's regime, little was known to the outside world about Somalia and her wonderful race. Somali women are exceptionally beauty and have come of age with many becoming a household name in foreign lands. The array of beauty products assembled in the shelves of some of the largest shopping malls in the world may deceive a first time onlooker as another emerging model among the black peoples in his home country.

Take the case of Iman, a Somali model who has stunned the world with her cat walk styles in some of the world's best fashion competitions. She appeared in many western movies often playing different characters. Another prominent figure among Somali women is Weris Dirie who shuttles the world as a UN Ambassador in the global fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a practice common among Somalis and widespread in 28 countries in the Middle East and Africa. Some of her books are available in major bookstores and libraries if one needs a quick read of her biographies. A quick search for Somali women writers on http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ will guide you to your taste and character. You may be amazed by your new discovery.


A woman who has stunned the Muslim world is Ayan Hersi who rose to become a major figure in the Dutch Parliament. As a Dutch Parliamentarian, she caused a furore among Muslims for her staunch attack on Islamic values and believes. Citing irregularities in her initial immigration application, the Dutch Government revoked her citizenship. Due to insecurity, she was offered a job with a thinktank group in the US. But that did not ease her stay in the US. The Dutch Government, overburdened by the accumulation of expenses on her security, stopped providing the budget for her heavy security detail.


There is more than we know about Somali women. Besides their beauty, many continue to dominate world sectors in the field of education, economy, and social aspects. The era when Somali women married Somali cousins, is well over. The exodus from the civil war in Somalia has produced many couples with varrying religious and cultural backgrounds. Somali women have married men of all nationalities conceiving children with different ideals, colors, and religious affiliations.


Somali women, especially those in the Diaspora, have displayed educational integrity the other gender could not aspire despite repeated trials. There're Doctors in the fields of Medicine and Professors in prestigious universities doing commendable jobs aimed at advancing humans needs the world over. These are a group of educated and courageous mothers and sisters whose perseverance saw them attain distinguishing grades in their pursuit of education and surpass their male counterparts with the desire to irradiate a gloomy world in crisis.


But that is only one side of the coin. Beauty without health, nutrition, and assured security means nothing. The millions of Somali women living in abject poverty and lacking security is infact an issue to reckon with. Somalia has never had a female President or Prime Minister making the role of women in government minimal. In a male-dominated world, the enormity of suffering for Somali women must be great.


The rule and collapse of the dictatorial Somali regime hasn't changed the living conditions of Somali women for the better and for now there is a long way for them to reclaim their rightful place in government, social status, and body beauty.

The fate of Somalis in Kenya

When two bulls fight, the grass suffers, and when your neighbor's house is on fire, there may be no escape for you as you may also be engulfed in an unnoticeable creeping inferno.

Kenya is on fire and so is Somalia that preceded it in crisis. In Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya and the epicenter of trouble, the bustling Eastleigh suburb, home to thousands of Kenya-Somalis and thousands of refugees from Somalia, life is not normal and so has business become stagnated. Marauding hooligans have made life for the inhabitants of Eastleigh unbearable with nightly raids on Somali businesses becoming the norm.


Thousands of Somalis have so far abandoned their businesses heading for the semi-arid North Eastern Province for safety. The province lags behind the rest of the country in education, infrastructure, health, and in economy which may be a hard pill to swallow for the newly arrived Internally Displaced People (IDPs), a harrowing experience until such a time when life comes back to normal.


As for the inhabitants of NEP, insufficiency in consumer products and an abrupt upsurge in provincial population, has had adverse effects on their general economy. Garissa District, which is said to contain the largest concentration of livestock in East and Central Africa, is for now unable to find markets for the large herds of goats, camels, sheep, and cattle that had been a source of income for many families and a sustainer of the economy. Prices of food products have skyrocketted and the Somali border remains closed.


Food destined for refugees housed in the district have been diverted to regions that have seen the worst violence. Successive Kenya Governments have long marginalized the people of NEP for 44 years because of their ancestral heritage with the people of Somalia and because of the simmering disputes in the 50s and 60s over the rightful ownership of the former Northern Frontier Dstrict (NFD).


Fo now, the Kenya Government seems to keep aside the problems of NEP until the rest of Kenya is secured and the election dispute is solved once and for all. For now, the general Somali population in Kenya, whether Kenyan born or foreign born, with their eyes wide open, seem to have been left with no other option but to wait and see the miraculously expected light at the end of the tunnel.

Kenyans fight the stone age ways

The people of Somalia seem to have mustered the art of modern warfare while Kenyan's enraged by the rigging of last year's December elections have resorted to fighting the old stone age ways of wielding machettes, pangas, bows and arrows, and all sorts of crude weapons. This type of warfare was seen in 1994 when the Hutus and Tutsi of Rwanda exterminated each other at the tragic deaths of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi who wrapped up a peace deal hours earlier only to have their jet shot down by a mysterious missile.
Perhaps, it is so because the military armouries have not yet been broken into to retrieve the stocks of M16, SLR, HK21, Ak 47, Browning pistols, Uzi sub-machine guns, Bazookas, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), and the various Artilleries that could cause profound devastation and immediate collapse of a once peaceful nation.
Kenyans are slaughtering each other like pigs. Luos and Kikuyus, seemingly orgiastic in nature, are up to their throats and baying for each others blood. The recent mediation efforts spearheaded by Kofi Anan, former Secretary General of the UN, ended without conclusive agreements. The escalation has spread to the peaceful towns of Nakuru and Naivasha. Remember, Lake Naivasha holds the largest concentration of Flamingos in the world. It is also a center of tourist attraction and a haven for Ornithologists who have come from the world over to study and reasearch on the colonies of birds whose presence in the lake vicinity is a miracle worth pondering.
The world is keenly watching as the country slowly descends into a failed state. If the current trend does not stop, millions will die and as had been earlier predicted, it is a war that will transcend borders. As soons as guns fall into the hands of criminals, rest asuured there will be no turning back until the appearance of a new victor decades from now.

Where is Kenya headed?

Kenya is bleeding and may soon be branded a "failed state" joining the ranks of Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Somalia, and Lebanon. Reconciliation efforts by Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, President John Kufuor of Ghana, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Graca Machel (wife of Nelson Mandela), Benjamin Mkapa (former President of Tanzania), Kofi Anan (former Secretary General of the UN), representatives from the US, UK, EU, and many other mindful negotiators seem to have failed as it has almost become impossible for the opposing sides to achieve an everlasting solution to arrest the situation once and for all.
The opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) headed by Raila Odinga has categorically rejected the Presidency of Mwai Kibaki accusing him and his Party of National Unity (PNU) of stealing the elections, an accusation shared by many governments, think tanks, and wide-eyed democratic institutions who have been following the unfolding of events from scratch. The number of the dead is skyrocketing, destruction of property is estimated in the billions, flight of foreign investors is on the rise, businesses have halted operations for fear of retribution with new battlefronts opening everyday in new localities. The illegitimate government's security apparatus which is party to the chaos is being accused of using excessive force to quell peaceful demonstrations by ODM supporters. On the other hand, the failure of the police to keep law and order and the intensity of crime has forced the otiose government to test the army by deploying it in areas of concern populated by opposition supporters.
The political scenario in Kenya has become a protracted headache for the international community such that the warring parties' refusal to a dialogue may plunge the country into a state of disorder and political intolerance reminiscent of the Rwanda genocide of 1994 in which majority Hutu massacred close to a million minority Tutsi.
Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, as a gesture goodwill and as assurance of reconciliation, and as if giving peace a chance to flourish, and for that matter, as an end to the power struggle, shook hands in full view of the world media, yet, the immediate escalation of hostilities meted on Nakuru, a town that is the breadbasket of the nation and a center of tourist attraction, is what a pacifist would describe as leadership dishonesty and utterly outrageous.
Odinga Oginga, Raila's father, who served under President Jomo Kenyatta as Kenya's first Vice President, was politically manhandled under the Kenyatta and Moi leaderships and thus departed the world in 1994 rejected and humiliated without achieving his political dreams. On the other hand, his son, Raila, who is in the midst of the current power struggle, was a victim of detention without trial having lagged behind bars during Moi's rule in some of the most dehumanizing prisons notably Kamiti Maximum Prison .
Raila has flouted the idea of a transitional government and the holding of Presidential elections in three months while Mwai Kibaki who is obsessed with the Presidency and who is known for taking everything for granted and "business as usual"-a phrase he has used since 2002, has categorically objected to such an idea instead proposing changes to the constitution so that Raila may be given the post of Prime Minister, a suggestion Raila rebuffed in the strongest terms.
International donors, disturbed by the state of events, have voiced concern and may sooner or later cut off Aid and put an end to funding state projects until a solution is found.
Finally, whatever the outcome of Kenya's post-election crisis may be, seeing the way peace has slipped out of the hands of a nation once dubbed as "Africa's model of democracy", Kenya, a land of opposing tribes and differing political ideas, must not be perceived as an eternal haven of peace for it is no different from any other African country and furthermore it is a nation that has lived with corruption since gaining indpendence from England in 1963 where past governments left a legacy of divide and rule-the cause of the current unresolved election standoff.

Is Islam compatible with modernity?

Yes, Islam is compatible with modernity because it is Muslims who spearheaded the much celebrated science we have today having taken a leaf from past modern civilizations and putting them into good use. Muslims of the past studied the sciences strenuosly; they translated original manuscripts from the Greeks and Romans thus creating broader instruments of greater significance some of which remain in use to this day. Muslims were pioneers in the fields of astronomy, astrology, oceanography and navigation, algebra, mathematics, and medicine which we reference exhaustively quite often in our pursuit of new scientific innovations.
Muslims plied the oceans in search of new lands and any existing novel societies ; they traded with far distant lands long before European civilization; they set up new posts and new administrations anywhere they set foot on; they introduced Islam to far places; in attempting to forge new relationships they intermarried with the local hosts finally leading to mutual understanding and social harmony among different breeds.
Islam penetrated the corners of the world with the speed of light with the Qur'an being the guiding light. Communities that were immersed in savagery and barbarism; those who lived in utter ignorance; and many who lived dormant lives saw themselves transfromed within a short period. Hostilities diminished in places where Islam was introduced and a new era of civilization had gotten off the ground with the introduction of law and order.
Muslim explorers introduced modern farming methods which drastically lowered levels of hunger prevalent those days and with their new discoveries, they were, in the long run, able to resuscitate many dwindling economies.
Today, due to selfish segmentation of Muslims into various denominations, the erronous misinterpretation of the Qur'an and the sheria by enemies of Islam and by semi-literate Muslims, the alarming manner in which Islam is being pushed into a corner and the negative perception of some non-muslims towards this divine religion, is, nothing but a distorted way of tarnishing the good name and reputaion of a divine religion whose absence from this world, would, without doubt, reverse entire humanity into a state of ignorance as witnessed in Islam's initial inception when the proud Qureish tribe of Arabia burried their daughters alive, gambled with their wealth, practised divination by arrows, drunk wine excessively, and above all worshipped idols as intermediaries.
In conclusion, whatever is contained in science is plainly content in the Qur'an i.e. from the smallest atom to the massive heavens we aspire to conquer and that without Islam, the modernity which we assume to be a western innovation, is, without doubt, compatible with Islam and is, in the real sense, an Islamic invention.

Meles, are you listening?

The proud people of Abyssinia have said "no" to your pseudo-democracy; Affewerki is up to your throat; citizens of Somalia have understood your hidden agenda; it has come into the glare of the world media how you oppressed the people of Ogaden, Oromo, Amhara, and the many minority tribes marginalized and tormented by your arrogant gun-wielding state police; the opposition are getting stronger than ever; Somalia's Al-shabab has flexed its muscles gaining ground day by day and that your soldiers are bogged down in the streets of Mogadishu not knowing how to evacuate; the Transitional Federal Government that you came to rescue in Somalia from the Union of Islamic Courts is on the verge of collapse; and above all drought has decimated your Tigre region with no access to the sea and completely closed from the outside world as their brethren on the other side in Eritrea have sealed their mountainous border.
Whether you step down or cling to power makes no difference as the damage has already been done .
You may have enriched yourself and your closest cronies but the fact of the matter is that you will go down in history as the worst dictator the Horn has seen this century. Remember, you were educated, armed, travelled on a Somali diplomatic passport, and clothed with Somali taxpayers money for almost a decade and now that you are a leader you have chosen to destroy them instead. The best you can do before the approach of 2009, is to tread carefully so that at least you could save your face from further harm.
Ethiopians and Somalis coexisted peacefully even when Mengistu and Siyad Barre ruled the two nations but sooner you got on the helm irreparable animosity of the greatest magnitude has emerged which will take a long time to heal.

Raila Odinga: Kenya's post election violence Prime Minsiter

Raila Amolo Odinga is expected to be named Kenya's post election violence Prime Minister after much deliberations with international mediators including Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, President John Kuffuor of Ghana, the European Union, the US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, Great Britain, France, Canada, and a host of individual figures from the world over.
Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic movement (ODM) won the presidential elections held on the 27th of December but was overturned after the Elctoral Commission of Kenya headed by its chairman Samuel Kivuitu with the help of "Mount Kenya mafia" and Kibaki's cronies erronously and without much thought declared Kibaki as the winner plunging the once peaceful country and Africa's model of democracy into total confusion pitying tribe against tribe thus creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the Rwanda genocide of 1994.
So far, the total death toll is estimated at 500 lives and property worth billions gone to waste. Therefore, for the country to return to normalcy; in order to overcome the stalemate; for peace and harmony to flourish once again, it is being proposed that Raila Odinga should be the next Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya so that the wounds inflicted on life and the economy will heal.
Kenyans are bitter at how sudden their country plunged into such a sorry state. For now, there is hope and that life will return to normalcy pretty soon. Those who engineered the theft of the election will be apprehended and will be dealt with severely. And rest assured Raila will be a hard pill to swallow for Kibaki's government until 2012.

ECK to blame for recent election violence in Kenya

The peace loving people of the Republic of Kenya have been deprived of their right to democratically elect a President of their choice for the last 44 years until the December of 2007 general elections when they decided to vote for a President of their choice. Of the three Presidential hopefuls, they opted for Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM)as their preferred choice. But hell broke loose, when the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK)headed by Kivuitu announced the incumbent President, Mwai Kibaki, as the overall winner of the elections despite trailing behind Raila by a big margin of votes. Irregularities in the election and theft of the ballot created chaos never before imagined. Within minutes of the announcement of the election of Kibaki as the winner, Kenya exploded into tribal warfare. Central, Nyanza, Rift Valley, and the Coast Provinces saw the worst rioting since independence triggering a spate of murder, arson, and daylight robberies that stripped the Republic of Kenya of life and property. The chaos took the lives of over 300 people as reported by the media and properties worth billions of shillings was destroyed.
International mediators from all corners of the world continue to pour into the country to try to salvage the deteriorating situation. Obviously, Kenya will not descend into chaos like neighboring Somalia. A solution will be found and peace will be restored. But the main question here is: who was responsible for all these problems? The question is clear and the answer to that is the ECK headed by Kivuitu. He should be brought to justice to face the music.