Managing Effectively while Inculcating Equality

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All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness-Tennessee Williams

We now learn from the scientific and biological fraternity that all humans are a product of X and Y chromosomes. Geneticists can now reveal to us that there are 35,000 genes in the human DNA and 3 billion chemical base pairs in the human DNA. This is a testament to human equality before the Almighty God. Overemphasizing differences hides prejudices that are disgracefully inappropriate in context. Overemphasizing similarities is the best tool to attaining accomplishments in the workplace. The belief that “all men are created equal” should be the best applicable emphasis.

The first thing to have in a modern workplace is a balanced culture, if not code of regulations to be equally observed by all regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, political affiliation or sex. Rules that call for tolerance and harmony in the workplace must be applied to ensure tranquility and serendipity. A good leader is the one who discourages negative behaviors like incivility and other detrimental actions that are appalling in perspective.

Self-reliance Criterion
Having close affinity to employees of like racial group sets a bad precedent as it is a harbinger for discrimination and favoritisms. Here is a parable of two managers: One would always speak in his native tongue to some select employees he/she shared cultural background with while the other discouraged speaking in his mother tongue. The later is the kind of leader ripe for multicultural leadership. Organizations can discourage leaders not to rely solely on self-reliance criterion when making strategic decisions by acknowledging the cultural backgrounds of individuals and groups by first using the golden rule that states: “do unto others as they would have them do unto them.” It is important to empower the leader to learn contrasting cultures even though the implied cultures may be in disagreement with one’s values. Leaders must instill social justice, harmony, and moral development and also have contact with different cultural groups so as to create a healthy atmosphere through a succession of cultural exchanges.

The Monitor Role
The monitor role has long appeared less interesting to many people because of their futile beliefs that it entailed keeping a watchful over other people’s daily activities or mode of operations. But to a leader or manager with modern thoughts and processes, it carries much weight in “maintaining high performance in both individuals and groups" (Quinn, Faerman, Thompson, and McGrath, and St. Clair, 2006, p.113).

The Mentor Role
The mentor and facilitator roles are the two most important key managerial leadership roles as they are tasked with establishing effective relationships. The mentor role, also called the concerned human role, is reflected in the science of caring and empathy where the manager is supposed to be thoughtful, selfless, and responsive and open to discussions and not shunning ideas, be friendly, openhearted, and reasonable. A mentor is a good listener who attracts new ideas, is appreciative, rewarding, and influences employee actions by motivating. Failure to observe the mentoring role leads to derailment, pseudo-transformational leadership, dictatorship, arrogance, and intolerance. Understanding self-worth opens the door for understanding others. Delegating effectively and developing employees is part of mentoring. In the real sense of the word, the remark “mentor” has its meaning rooted in Greek, which may mean trusted counselor, coach or guide and therefore derives its true meaning from The Odyssey, a poem written by Homer and addressed to Odysseus asking him to tutor his son Telemachus. Understanding the keys to effective delegation involves conscientiousness, influence, and answerability. Thus, the mentor role is about understanding self and others, communicating effectively, and developing employees.

The Facilitator Role
The Facilitator role rests on three important pillars namely: building teams, using participative decision making, and managing conflict-all part of the organizational improvement process. Furthermore, group work means having a commitment to a common goal or purpose, having a concrete sense of mutual responsibility, sharing information and having common communication structure, and setting clear roles and responsibilities that are equally interdependent in outlook. Roles are sets of expectations relevant to the individual and others in a given situation. With role clarity implying the absence of two demanding conditions notably role ambiguity and role conflict-role ambiguity entails interacting with others while role clarity leads to inconsistency or contradiction of information. Sending conflicting information is cause for role conflict. The facilitator role requires knowledge of the levels, sources, and stages of conflict. Differences in values, attitudes, beliefs, needs, or perceptions have been shown to cause conflicts.

Handling Communication Overloads
Ironically, the flow of information has transformed tremendously over the years and taken major leaps and bounds since the discovery of microchips and other technological advancements such as nanotechnology. Our capability to store and retrieve information through optical scanning and “data compression” and our ability to do research without resorting to the olden ways of searching through library shelves, is a clear testimony as to how we have advanced “two steps forward” and “one step back” though we have heavy responsibilities of “taming the electronic tiger” as we advance towards new innovations and immeasurable outputs. Thus, it is imperative for today’s managers to grasp the importance of modern office keeping by observing the TRAF system-which connotes to mean Toss, Refer, Act, and File-a novel way of overseeing the predicted modern paperless office.

On the other hand, recurrent work interruptions and overloads caused by excessive messages such as telephone calls, voice mails, cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs, faxes, the intranet and internet, and e-mails should not instill fear or cause alarm but rather create challenges and enhanced momentum if effective management is to be observed in the workplace. Today’s managers are emboldened by their fervent desire to exploit the universally accepted sets of procedures known by the acronym OABC which stands for Opening, Agenda, Body, and Closing-four valuable tools for deciphering written messages regardless of whether they are in the form of a memo, circular or other regular correspondences. Likewise, face-to-face meetings are as essential as other forms of communication and should not be taken off the table. Teleconferencing, a contemporary hi-tech inclusion invented as result of human necessity, has been found to be in conformity with the international superhighway. Monitoring demands analyzing core processes, monitoring the value chain and output like judgments and opinions given, resources allocated, decisions made, mistakes detected, products planned, commitments negotiated, and courses taught.

The Myers-Briggs Type Inventory
The Myers-Briggs Type Inventory which is based on Carl Jung’s works highlights the five-factor model or basic tendencies with each factor named for one of two ends of a continuum namely neuroticism, extraversion, open to new experiences, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Agreeableness and extraversion are interrelated in that with no explicit leadership, the one who emerges with extraversion, agreeableness, and emotionality emerges the informal leader.

Johari Window
Named after Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham, the Johari window is another exemplary framework that helps increase one’s self-awareness. The Johari window is divided into four compartments namely: open, blind, hidden, and unknown. Hidden inconsistencies and hypocrisies including hiding, rebuffing, and evading learning about themselves, has been found to be a common attribute of many people. Sadly though, popular television shows, movies, and books are acted in such a way that the end results, because of concealment of true feelings or lack of self-awareness, characters may end up skeptical or tolerant.

Effective Interpersonal Communication
With acute logjam to effective interpersonal communication evolving as a result of inarticulateness, hidden agendas, status meant to impress and not offend, hostility due to lack of trust, and differences in communication styles, Chris Argyris of the Harvard Business School implemented what became known as “the left-hand column issues” which implies “what is thought” and “the right-hand column” in reference to “what is said” so that “discussables” can be differentiated from “undiscussables”.
The golden saying, “nature has given men one tongue but two ears that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak”, as noted by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, is a superior contemplation in the real sense which requires that we understand what is being said by others. The use of reflective listening helps us understand what others are saying and instills empathy in our inner souls.

Understanding Conflict Resolution
Understanding conflict resolution in the intrapersonal and interorganizational levels could be an added advantage. Avoiding approaches, accommodating approaches, competing approaches, compromising approaches, and collaborating approaches are some of the dimensions used in conflict management strategies. However, there are advantages and disadvantages of conflict management approaches. Also, as research has shown, allowing some degree of conflict could propel new ideas, innovation, and change. Conflicts can be stimulated and agreements managed by introducing guidelines for advocacy groups.

Team Building Strategies
There are informal approaches to team building and barriers to team building. Team building is an ongoing process and not an event. One approach to team building is for the team members to understand each other and have the willingness to observe each other consistently so as to generate substantial results. Social interaction among members like sharing a meal after work, holding annual holiday celebrations, and other important events opens a plethora of opportunities and other out of the ordinary accomplishments. Ironically, barriers to team building resurface due to not having the knowledge or experience of team building. One major factor that hinders team building is the lack of planning and coordination. Creating incentives to reward employees with exceptional performance emboldens employee resolve and attitude, increases social and economic standings, and lowers tardiness and the impervious “free will” attitude. Autocratic, consultative, and group decision making are some of the strategies used to define who should participate and when.

Effective Meeting Management
Meetings may be horrifying and end in disasters because of poor facilitation or they may be well managed, heartening, and all-inclusive. Understanding the rules of effective meeting management, coming up with the required tools, and setting the stage with certain objectives in mind is a prerequisite for modern management. Understanding the meeting objective, creating appropriate participation, selecting the time and place of the session, and preparing and distributing the agenda in advance is a requirement if pitfalls are to be avoided. However, running the meeting with sets of priorities in mind is a good way of giving the attendants a new lease of life. For a meeting to be professional it is essential to have someone take the minutes; the leader should review the agenda; make certain participants know each other; do not diverge from the agenda; ease interruptions; promote overall membership; and bring to a close the meeting by reviewing decisions reached.

Understanding Four Dimensions of Leadership
Influencing others depends on having a concrete understanding of the values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations (VABEs) of the people involved. Having the feeling that it is a God-given responsibility to change how others feel and believe leads to underestimation of those under your command. Those endowed with authority should grasp the benefits of morality, ethics, legality, and cultural context. Individually determining what’s right and wrong is known as morality; ethics is a body of knowledge and established and conventional guiding principles of conduct created for groups of people or organizations; legality implies acting upon the established laws of humanity; while cultural context refers to observing the cultural values of others in the workplace. In public and professional conduct it is best to apply ethics and in private and for personal values wrap yourself around the garb of morality. When dealing with those under your authority, always keep in mind that what goes around comes around. It was Charles Grodin who once said, “It always surprises me that otherwise intelligent people don’t realize that if you treat people badly, it will eventually come back to you”. To give you an example of what goes around comes around, it is worth looking back what history has to tell us. “In the year 260 C.E., the Roman Emperor Valerian fell captive to Sasanid forces. He spent his last years at the Sassanid court in Ctesiphon, where his captors forced him to stoop and serve as a mounting stool when the Sasanid king wanted to ride his horse". (After his death, the Sasanids preserved Valerian’s skin as a memento of their victory over the Romans), (Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler ). One’s leadership qualities should not be repugnant to justice and to the subjects providing essential services or else there could be serious ramifications resulting in the dissolution of the entire enterprise. For example, a medieval law stated that “if two persons fell under suspicion of crime, the uglier or more deformed was to be regarded as more probably guilty” (Wilson and Hernstein, 1985).

Elements of Individual, Professional, Organizational, and Societal Levels of Multicultural Competence

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Understanding the importance of individual/personal, professional, organizational, and societal levels of multicultural competence carry heavy weight in modern management/leadership styles. Comprehending cultural competence in multifaceted dimensions helps alleviate ethnocentric monoculturalism, ingrained biases and prejudices, hate and fear of others at the individual/personal level. No one is born to fear and hate others but that it is learned. As suggested by Sue (2001), cultural incompetence begins at birth. Likewise, misinformation about others’ cultural differences is not acquired through free choice but imposed through a process known as social conditioning (Jones, 1997; Carter, et al., 1998).

Overcoming personal belief systems, behaviors, and emotions for both trainers and trainees could be a personal journey to overcoming cultural incompetence and a major challenge for leaders.

In order to believe in justice and democracy, it is equally important to overcome the biases that threaten our self-image. Understanding how our own biases and actions perpetuate and constitute injustice helps every concerned leader bear greater responsibility in order to administer powerful change. Honesty and openness for each other, overcoming fears, fostering concern for all groups of society and being acquainted with the effects of prejudice and discrimination and how it affects others opens equal access and opportunities for all people. However, Sue (1999, 2001), provides four helpful and important principles that could herald for individual cultural competence. Initially, individuals will have to familiarize with and learn from different perspectives and not exclusively rely on the media or what the neighbors say. Secondly, immersing in the culture to be learned generates a balanced analysis of what is expected to be reaped. Thirdly, supplementing realistic intellectual capacity with practical certainty of individuals from that culture is a way of identifying with that culture and can be applied as a supplementary encouragement. On the professional level, management and leadership styles have been shown to over and over again experience the impacts of cultural values, beliefs, traits, and decision techniques.

Different cultures view leadership from dissimilar perspectives. In American cultural way of thinking, leadership is portrayed as forceful and independent whereas in Japan, good leadership is based on the theory of harmony and fairness. The latter Japanese view is the view I share and scrutinize wholeheartedly. In France, a manager is expected to answer a subordinate’s query accurately. American mangers and leaders are regarded as problem solvers who take time to provide answers to the subordinate’s concerns after thorough examination and head scratching. In modern Japanese culture, respondents described a leader as one who displays fairness, is flexible, has good listening skills, is outgoing, and is responsible while American respondents described a leader as one who is intelligent, honest, understanding, determined, and possesses effective verbal skills.

Leaders who value multiculturalism have organizational structure that treats all employees, suppliers, and customers equally. For leaders to be competent, the organizations they serve have the responsibility to create strategies, policies, procedures, and implementations acceptable to their employees.

Though organizations have contrasting procedures in the way they deal with cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender issues, overcoming conflicts and misunderstandings in the workplace should be a prerequisite for any organization willing to do away with institutionalized monoculturalism.

Monocultural organizations are those organizations that operate on Eurocentric and ethnocentric ideologies. A prime example is the former apartheid regime of South Africa whose mode of operations was built on racial divide and racial superiority. Based on outright exclusionism, either explicitly or implicitly, the former Boer regime of former apartheid South Africa marginalized people of color and other minority groups. This means, people were divided into racial categories. With Whites on top of the privileged ladder, Indians and Coloreds enjoyed the center stage while Blacks remained at the bottom. Besides the Whites, all other races were persona non grata in exclusively reserved white neighborhoods, white shopping centers, and white schools. Blacks lived in the Ghettos with no jobs, no sewage, no viable infrastructure, and no decent schools. In other words, South Africa of the yesteryears was a discriminatory organization where the color of the epidermis and the sex of a person determined where one belonged in the government registry of races and sexes. On the other hand, the strong believe in the melting pot and equal opportunity for all should be a driving factor for cultural equality. Culture should have the least impact on management.

Historically, courageous men and women spent time and effort to fight American discriminative policies of the 60s. Mention is to be made of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Nobel laureate who lost his precious life while fighting human injustices. Despite civil and human rights activists dying for the cause of equality and justice, disparities in employment, education, employment, and social facilities do exist in modern America.

On the contrary, nondiscriminatory organizations are more culturally significant and sympathetic. However, foot-dragging remains an impediment to the advancement of affirmative actions; equal employment opportunities are taking a grudging stand, prejudice and biases do exist, and policy implementations remain inconsistent and elusive.

Assumingly, the United Nations is the biggest nondiscriminatory organization the world has seen. Looking back at its past line-up of hierarchical leadership history, we find that the top echelons were drawn from multifarious nationalities. Formerly the League of Nations, the United Nations, came to fore after the end of World War II. Its first Secretary General was Trygve Lie of Norway (1946-1952) followed by Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden (1953-1961), U Thant of Burma (1961-1971), Kurt Waldheim of Austria (1972-1981), Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru (1982-1991), Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt (1992-1996), Kofi Anan of Ghana (1997-2006), and currently Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea (2007-). Because the world is regarded as a one big society, the position of the Secretary-General of the United Nations is based on equal distribution between the various continents. So far, Western Europe and others had three secretary generals; Latin American and Caribbean Group had one; Asian Group had two; while the African Group had two secretary generals.

The greatest challenges facing the United States today include the issue of race, the existence of unfair disparities between racial/ethnic minorities and Euro-American groups that are invisible and deeply ingrained, and the absence of open dialogue regarding racial inequalities, and bigotry and racism. Despite the efforts of former President Bill Clinton in his issuance of Executive Order No. 13050 and his creation of the Race Advisory Board to examine race and racism, a lot needs to be done in the fields of racial reconciliation. The issue of race in the U.S. is so ingrained in the minds of the American social fabric and that the society itself is ill-equipped to tackle it alone.

The glorification of racism has been used as an unbending instrument by monoculturally ethnocentric fanatics whose strong cultural superiority is based on past biased historical legacies. The presence of the Ku Klux Klan and others of like mind must be cause for alarm in America’s racially divided nation. In conclusion, knowledge, skills, and awareness in leadership in a diverse and multicultural environment could be an added advantage for millions in management worldwide.

Book Reviews: Comparisons and Contrasts

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Summarized herein in the form of an essay is a review of two books written by two distinguished authors of European origin. The books, Eternal Egypt: the Civilization of Egypt from Earliest Times to Conquest by Alexander the Great by Frenchman Pierre Montet translated from the original French by Doreen Weightman and Africa: a Biography of the Continent by Anglo-Saxon, John Reader.

In his book, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, John Reader, eulogizes the prevalence of domesticated plants and animals, technological innovation, the establishment of villages and increasing level of social interdependence in the now empty and waterless Sahara desert even before the pyramids were built (Reader, p. 151). On the other hand, he articulately and meritoriously adduces evidences regarding the cultivation of food-crops such as wheat, barley, peas, and lentils along the Nile River despite these crops being cultivated earlier some 9,000 years ago in the “fertile crescent” of the Near East in reference to “the land between the two rivers”, formerly in the ancient nation of Mesopotamia and currently in the modern state of Iraq. Thus, cultivation of indigenous African plants did not begin in Egypt but rather in the south, an indication of the ancient nation of Nubia. Nubia, a vast land straddling the Nile valley to the south of Egypt was once a colony of Egypt. Both authors unanimously confirm the colonization of Nubia by Egypt. Pierre Montet further explicates how Nubians had their own form of arts and crafts and at the same time borrowed Egyptian artistic traditions (Montet, p. 118).

Rich in natural resources, Nubia was, for over 1,000 years, a major supplier of gold, ivory, timber, animal products, and slaves to Egypt until the emergence of powerful Nubian rulers who instituted a centralized authority that would have severe repercussions on the dwindling pharaonic empires. The arrival of powerful invading Assyrian armies wielding weapons of iron eventually led to the collapse of the once powerful Cushitic kingdom in Nubia. Both authors acknowledge the majesty of the civilization that thrived in Meroe. “Yet the Kingdom of Meroe can be given credit for having carried Egyptian civilization further south than the pharaohs themselves had ever succeeded in doing”, says so Pierre Montet while John Reader concludes its downfall accordingly: “Meroe was effectively an expression of Egyptian civilization rooted in what the pharaohs had called the land of punt-indigenous black Africa.”

The absence of genuine documentation, as Montet claims, is convincing evidence that Egyptians did not reach the confluence of the two Niles. Perhaps, by the two Niles, the author is referring to the two tributaries the Blue Nile originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and the White Nile which originates in Lake Victoria and is at the confluence of the Bahr al-Ghazal and Bahr al-Jabel Rivers.

At least the two authors agree on the name “punt” to which they separately refer to as “the land of the God” (Montet, p. 120) and “God’s land” (Reader, p. 196). On the other hand, the authors fail to agree on the exact location of punt in our modern world map. Pierre Montet suggestively assumes the location of punt to have been in the Bay of Hafun figuratively pointing it to the south of Cape Guardafui. In a nutshell, he is of the view that the incense-bearing tree Queen Hatshepsut sought after to exploit is plentifully found in Africa and Arabia Felix respectively.
Pierre Montet, despite employing persuasive historical and scientific research methodologies gained from his many years of distinguished career as an Egyptologist and his accumulated experience during work at the German Archaeological Institute of Berlin, fails to garner convincing consensus to uncovering the validity of the Land of Punt. He implausibly postulates two unrelated localities and as a final point fails to make amends with the reader. In their pursuit of literary reputation, no wonder, many writers tend to huggermugger. On the contrary, John Reader, relying on available evidence, easily recapitulates without making mangled assumptions by placing the location of punt “between the Red Sea and the southern Kordofan province of the Sudan”. Several African tribes and states lay claim to the historical Cush kingdom.

Most notably, Somalis, Amhara, Tigre, Nubians, Oromo, and Sudanese-Arabs place profound hereditary and historical inclination to the Cushitic kingdom of old. Currently, in the modern state of Somalia, there is a region known as Puntland located on the eastern corner of Somalia bordering the Red Sea and closest the Gulf of Aden where frankincense and myrrh -the two most prominent products sought after by ancient Egyptian pharaohs abundantly grow in the wild to this day.

Whichever claim is true; our reliance on historical inscriptions found in the tombs and pyramids of Nubia and Egypt and information gathered from archeological excavations should be enough to serve as concrete and compelling evidence for the moment simply for educational purposes until novel exposures reveal otherwise in the future.

What amuses the skeptical reader is the paragraph in John Reader’s book that state, “the concept of the Nile as a corridor through which the civilizing influence were conveyed to sub-Saharan Africa is the basis of an essentially Eurocentric interpretation of African history, implying that Africans were incapable of developing their own versions of civilization. It has an appealing simplicity, but is contradicted by the evidence.” (Reader, p.195). In one way one or the other, the author himself seems not to the point as regards whether Africans were civilized or not. The judge who could arbitrate on the flimsy and much-debated issue of who-was-who in African civilization is the infant and tender baby archeology whose distinct brushes and micro-blades have failed to go beyond the borders of America, North Africa, and Europe. John Reader reports that, according to the high official Henu, the expedition was undertaken on behalf of Montuhotep III c.1975 BC. On the other hand, Pierre Montet states that the ships were built in Chaldea and that they “sailed down the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf, went round the enormous Arabian Peninsula and eventually reached the land of Punt.” Reader tries to make a case in point by claiming the ship was carried piece by piece across 150 km of desert to the Red Sea coast. (Reader p. 196)
Cited Sources
Pierre Montet, Eternal Egypt: The Civilization of Egypt from Earliest Times to Conquest by Alexander the Great, 5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9EA
John Reader, Africa: A Biography of the Continent, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1998
Ibid. (Montet, p. 118)
Ibid. (Reader 197)
Ibid. (Montet, p. 120)
Ibid (Reader p. 199)
Ibid (Reader, p. 196)
Ibid (Reader p. 195)
Ibid (Monetet p. 124)

Somalia’s Proliferation of Tectonic Cantons and the Quest for Tribal ‘Lands’

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All of Somalia’s so-called leaders share one mindset: the dismemberment of the country into cantons ruled by ruthless tribal chieftains whose ultimate goal is to ensure the security and protection of their clans. Previously, it was Somaliland that seceded in 1992 though not recognized by the international community. What is currently referred to as Somaliland, was before the collapse of the military government in 1991, composed of five separate provinces, namely Awdal, Sanaag, Sool, Togdheer and the North West region. However, despite Somaliland claiming sovereignty, the three regions of Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn remain violence prone as the inhabitants of these regions prefer to remain with the rest of Somalia.

In 1998, Somalia’s former Eastern region, declared autonomy with established governing institutions in place headed by a president and seconded by a cabinet. During the colonial era, this part of Somalia currently called Puntland was known as Majertinia-a reference to the Majertein clan that is the dominant clan in the region. Now we have Maakhirland, GalMudug, and Hiiraanland-each drawing governing styles from their predecessors Somaliland and Puntland.

The current transitional government of Somalia has no mandate over the rest of the country because it is surrounded by hostile Jihadi forces determined to enforce sharia law by sheer force. With his mandate restricted to an area the size of the Vatican, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the current transitional president, relies on African Union forces for protection.

The recent inhuman expulsion by the Puntland autonomous government of internally displaced persons from central and southern Somalia to the unforgiving city of Galkayo demonstrates the sadistic and appalling behavior of Somali tribal leaders and their total disregard for harmony and coexistence of Somali tribal groups. Perhaps, the current visible territorial divisions will set the stage for a future federal government based on tribal demarcations.

Atomically-Charged Sheikh Atom and Faroole’s Violation of Refugee Protocol

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Somalia's Puntland regional state under Abdirahman Faroole is in flagrant violation of the international refugee protocol for forcefully repatriating refugees from central and southern Somalia to the city of Galkayo. To avenge the escalation of violence and assassination of political figures perpetuated by unknown factions in towns and cities across the autonomous state of Puntland, President Faroole's administration has embarked on a sweeping security swoop that target innocent refugees from southern and central Somalia.

According to a UNHCR report carried by AFP news service, approximately 900 refugees have been forcefully repatriated to the city of Galkayo so far and the figure could be rising. After being uprooted from their homes in Puntland and after being subjected to brutal punishment and harsh treatment by the police in Puntland, these poor displaced persons have been left abandoned in a city where conditions remain unforgiving. A clear explanation of the area of conflict and the politics behind is best explained by Ali H. Abdulla in his article The Galgala conflict and its misleading Association with Islamic Extremism.

Having been a refugee himself in Australia-in fact a PhD Candidate at La Trobe University, Australia-Faroole should have known better how to preserve the sanctity of human life. Anyone with an iota of mercy should be perturbed at how a man who has been a refugee himself in the past in a foreign country living-off on taxpayers money, becomes an enemy unto his fellow needy countrymen and countrywomen who have settled in his canton in search of peace and prosperity and the pursuit of justice.

In a recent interview with a Somali news service, a spokesman for GalMudug confided that those who were evicted from Puntland have been law-abiding citizens. These mass deportations have not escaped international media scrutiny and human rights organizations. Some television stations continuously rebroadcast the same event for days. Faroole’s inhuman actions are in par with the harsh conditions subjected to poor Somali refugees living in Saudi Arabia who often become victims of repatriations by the dreaded cane-wielding Saudi police.

Faroole’s administration is in violation of international journalism and freedom of press. The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Abdifatah Jama Mire, Director of Horseed Media, has been strongly condemned by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ). “Today press freedom was buried in broad day light in Puntland and indeed it is a black day for independent journalism in Puntland and all across Somalia,” said a statement from NUSOJ. The statement by Omar Faruk Osman titled NUSOJ Condemns 6-year jail sentence against media Director in Puntland, states that Abdifatah was caged for six years simply for interviewing Sheikh Atom.

Undoubtedly, Puntland under Faroole has had its share of regional instability and more violence is expected to follow soon. The sighting of heavy military hardware destined for Sheikh Atom’s forces in the northern Galgala Mountains must be a source of concern for Faroole's poor state. Reports that the Sheikh’s tribesmen are pouring into Galgala must not be taken lightly in any way and that's why the area is constantly becoming atomically charged day after day. Having incited international maritime piracy in his region and having abetted human trafficking across the Gulf of Aden, the administration in Puntland feels it has no other alternative left in the eyes of the international community other than opening a new political inferno.

In the Galgala Mountains, Sheikh Atom is mobilizing a die-hard army of religiously motivated youth whose goal is to unite with the Islamist forces in the south. In Mogadishu and in the south and central Somalia, the forces of Hizb al-Islam and al-Shabab are more than determined to overthrow Puntland State as soon as they are done with the current bitter struggles they are engaged in with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama'a and AMISOM forces respectively.

The expulsion of southern and central Somali refugees from Puntland has put Abdirahman Faroole in a political dilemma. For now, his administration remains besieged from all sides by remorseless forces. Meanwhile, al-Shabab's black flag is flying high in the mountains of Galgala despite Puntland forces claiming to have routed Sheikh Atom’s forces. Even if Atom’s were to be dispersed and defeated, one thing is clear: they will regroup and resort to guerilla warfare-the same tactics employed by the Union of Islamic Courts when Ethiopia’s occupation forces poured into Somalia.

During the Vietnam War, the “men in black pajamas” caused great havoc for the world’s strongest army and for today in Somalia, it will be a headache for any force to defeat the “men in green pajamas”. Consequently, Faroole's recent inhuman expulsions will further incite violence and endanger the lives of millions of Puntlanders. Perhaps, instead of repatriating these displaced people, it was best they were left in peace to assimilate for the good of Puntland’s economy.

Unlimited Somali Ideophones Revealed

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In this fast moving 21st Century of information superhighway, you should feel obliged to expose yourself to the rest of the world so that your presence in words and deeds can be felt by others.

Long time ago, it was the Europeans who studied our languages and cultures and then published them in their lands while making hefty profits from these publications for the future of their grandchildren. Today, it is quite different as the computer enables anyone with the will to write to do so without much stress as information about the whole world has been fed into search engines and libraries for quick retrievals. That means, anyone who is computer literate can write exhaustively in almost any language and yet reap the same hefty profits or more than the Europeans made in their heydays.

Watch out what I'm about to reveal. It is nothing new to you since these are words in our wonderful Somali language that revolve around in our daily conversations. But first let's have a glimpse of where in the world the Somali language is mostly spoken.

The Somali language, spoken by over 15 million worldwide, is popular in Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia; it is also spoken by immigrant Somali communities living in North America, the EU, and the Middle East, and quite a number living in some African countries and other parts of the world. It was first written in Latin in 1972 during the reign of Mohamed Siyad Barre (deposed and deceased).

Language is the method people communicate with each other using gestures, sounds, disarticulation, and good organization while phonology is the study of sounds and sound structures in a language and incorporates phonetics and phonemics. Differences abound in dialect or accent among speakers of the Somali language depending on where one lives.

Dialect means a language composition spoken among people of different social and regional defining features due to sexual characteristics, ethnic group, and background. The intermingling of the Somali with other societies has brought about changes in accent, dialectical composition, sounds, and pronunciations. So far, many dictionaries have been printed in Somali that circulate in many parts of the world, though; further work and additions may be needed to accommodate all speakers.

Consequently, many polyglots attest to the strangeness of the Somali language and its abundance in ideophones used instead of words. These sounds describe peculiar actions as they happen and may also be found in Bantoid, Hamitic, Cushitic or Omotic, and other Nilotic langauages.

Sounds or ideophones are few in the English language with the exception of a few you may have heard many times like: the ding dong of a church bell or the tick tock of a clock. In contrast, it is quite different in Somali as sound sciences commence from the time a child is conceived when it is referred to as mujuq, munjuq, or munjuluq-meaning delicate in nature and appearance.

Buluq, which may be described as the sound composed during delivery that evolved as a result of the baby's contact with amniotic fluid-the transitional period from the womb to the hands of the gynecologist and baq when it is laid to rest on a hard surface which could be the skin or hide of an earlier sacrificial lamb reverberating with a qabac sound.

The waaq of ducks; caac of crows; baj or tufoo from the act of spitting; fiif or fuuf from the act of nose blowing; quxu and qax qax from coughing; bac which denotes a baby's flimsy blow; taw meaning to jump or spring up; fag or fagax means to run; fiiq describes the action of sipping tea; nac nac being useless talk; baf which implies to break or dislocate a bone; kaf is to separate two co-joined things or raf to pull with sheer force; yac or yoo being regret; ruq which means to uproot and jiiq from door lacking lubrication are sounds entirely used as describing actions as they happen instead of words.

Wab, wish, or nash all mean to whip or cane as punsihment; haw and fash indicate flow of blood or liquid; with ham being baby feeding technique; buc buc means a baby is stomach full; dhuq dhuq and fajaq are romantic acts; dhaq dhaq and dhiq dhiq all mean uncontrolled laughter; biq is anger; wac is a blow; qac is someone of low intelligence; kaw is demise while naf means being at the brink of death; biiq is being a coward or may also mean the act of breaking wind or furting.

Murux means laceration; bash is the breaking of glass; wiif is a stray bullet and qish or qash is to plagiarize. Wir or car is to dare something that will have consequences; muluq is recuperation; dhaw or dhac is a slap; wagagac is the flash of lightning; baq is fermentation or being frightened; bul is a blaze; jiq is like an impenetrable forest; juuq and jaaq means keep quiete and say nothing; dhub or dhukub denotes one is deaf or hearing impaired; jaf is to peel; uu and aa all mean a war cry or groan in pain; qajac is chuffing of feet; kadh, qadhab, and kadhaw mean to staple together while baw is the beating of drums.

Jug means a blow or to swallow with force; juq or nuq is to penetrate or insert; tatatac is to walk lamely; dalaq means to enter without aim or knowledge of or to swallow as in food; qub though meaning to spill or maize cob, it also denotes the sound emanating from players of certain past time games; while qab is echo from a door shutting or closing.

Haakah is sound emitted by one bitten by an insect or serpent while it also may be the alarm sounded by one scared of injections or thorns; hodhodho implies empty or useless talk; xuf and xaaf is speed; manaq manaq is being mischievous; bodh bodh connotes bubbling; bidh bidh represents radiance or an object appearing from a distance; fagax is to race; buq is the sound made when a lid is removed from a container; balaq means to collapse though it also means the male organs; jaw is a continuously reverberating sound; fatalaq is to tumble; jaq is to suckle while ciic is to use sheer force to emit excretion.

Fud and foq all mean to spring out as from a hole or enclosure; faq is to scramble; fashuuq is to squeeze as lemon or orange; fash indicates gushing liquid or blood; bash again means to splash; daf is to snatch; rif means shearing or jerking of hair; kud iyo kir means "back off with your aggression"; kaf is to rip off; quuq and qaaq is a form of crying; qiiq which means smoke also is the abrupt application of car brakes; damug and dam refer to total darkness or blindness; qumbuluq is to fall in to a ditch; qajajac is to crush under the feet or unsubstantiated talk; huuhaa implies talking senselessly; hayaay is an exclamation; shiiq applies to frying; shab denotes spraying or splashing while bariiq is to trip over, stuck in mud or fail an exam or quiz.

Fuuq is to drink heavy drinks like milkshake or creamy liquid; bacaac is the cry of the lamb while baac is a fool; fadfad is the bubbling of sticky cornmeal on a cooking pot; xaax is to feel cold; xuux is to instill fear in children; yaq is something nasty in appearance; aq is uttered when smoke disturbs one's visibility; yar is astonishment; uf is bad smell; bash is for any object that split into pieces when dropped while bush is when a jelly-like substance falls on the floor then splits in to bish; shabaax is sound from sea waves or meandering river water; dhibiq is for falling droplets; dhaw dhaw and qaw qaw is scrubbing of metals; hatishow is to sneeze; qabac qabac is when an object is blown by the wind; qab qab and dhow dhow is a knock on a door; brrr can be sounded with lubricated lips and is commonly used by livestock herders when watering their animals with ish and cay sounded when driving livestock.

Hag is used to move a donkey faster; haah is sounded when bringing goats to a resting place; tuuw enables a camel to kneel down; heey and jac is to scare away wild animals especially at night while jooh is to restrain a camel or bull.

Nig, dhag or rig is a slight blow or slap; nag means impossible; dhab is to tighten or hold tightly and tuss is the release or escape of air from a balloon. Qalaw qalaw is the ringing of a bell or like nature; "wii is the sound made by a wounded or dying Dik-dik and way is an exclamation of distress or disappointment (Professor Georgi Kapchits) while qar-rac is to tear apart. "Wii Sagaaro iyo way Sokeeye midna lagama soo waaqsado" (Somali proverb).

Such is the simplicity of sounds in the Somali language and that communication in clicks is possible among select groups without resorting to words; therefore, allowing them create exceptional form of conversation that flows ceaselessly and flawlessly more or less similar and of the same wavelength with some Southern African click languages.

In the absence of a strong central government and the collapse of our educational systems, our beautiful mother tongue is headed for extinction. The only way to resuscitate it is through the formation of a strong national government before 2010 slips away.

The Unsolved Misery and Suffering of Somalia’s Minority Tribes

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“An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood”-Prophet Muhammad’s farewell message

The West has time and again been accused of pioneering social divide along color lines with whites enjoying the fruits of independence and the black race clinging to the bottom of the ladder in social, economic, and political life. In America, it was as recently as 1965 when Rosa Parks, a black woman riding in a public transportation was plucked out of a metro bus for refusing to vacate her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks’ great grandfather was of Scottish/Irish ancestry. This event triggered a racial revolution that continues to have tremendous impact on the daily lives of millions of Americans to this day. In modern-day India, the ancient division of society into categories resulted in the creation of the caste system where the lowest and most despised are categorized as Dalits, untouchables or outcasts. In order to conceal or erase the derogatory name Dalit from the specter of society, Mahatma Gandhi concocted the name Harijan which means ‘children of god’. Similarly, in today’s Europe, descendants of the once thriving Roma civilization are unable to come to grips with daily social huddles and communal stratification. Unfair treatment of the Roma society and denial of basic necessities continue without legal justification. The use of the insulting name ‘gypsy’ is still dominant in many European languages.

Upon taking over the mandate of what was once Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda-Burundi) from Germany, the Belgians elevated the rank and file of the taller Tutsi tribe over the medium height Hutu and the shorter Twa or forest people. Belgian and French demographers and anthropologists gave conflicting views regarding the cause of the visible height difference between the three Central African tribes. However, it was Marcus Garvey who theoretically attributed the tall stature of the Tutsis to the abundant dietary intake extracted from livestock raring with meat and milk providing vital proteins necessary for growth and development. The survival of the medium height Hutus depended on farming while the Twa or forest people lived off the land as hunters/gatherers.

Until the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994 as the first black president, a form of social stratification known as apartheid (separateness) existed in South Africa. Following the election of 1948, a new legislation that classified inhabitants into black, white, colored, and Indian came into effect. A similar enforcement in 1958 stripped blacks of their South African citizenship. This enforcement paved way for the creation of self-governing homelands known as Bantustans- a raw deal that delivered inferior services to blacks. Up until 1994, white Afrikaners referred to blacks as ‘Kaffir’-a derogatory word borrowed from Arabic that means ‘heathen’, ‘infidel’ or ‘disbeliever’. Portuguese mariners were the first absorb the disparaging word from the Arabs thereafter calling black people they encountered along the coasts ‘Kaffir’. They passed on to the Dutch, Germans, and then the British.

However, in Africa, the legacy of slavery, imperialism, and colonialism left a bleak picture in social demographics with superiority of one tribe over another tribe remaining ubiquitous up to this day in the absence of social control and pertinent legislation. Even though majority of Somalia’s tribes or clans may claim to have suffered the most during the twenty years of the civil war, undoubtedly, it is the minority tribes who have been subjected to pain and anguish and other forms of collective punishment before and during the two decades of hostilities. The rise of the notorious warlords that emerged after the fall of the military junta in 1991 brought to an end to thriving civilizations along the southern coast of Somalia and along the banks of the agriculturally productive Juba and Shebelle rivers respectively.

For centuries, Somalia’s marginalized societies provided the aristocratic warmongering nomadic ‘Tartar Horsemen’ with the essential war implements such as spears and shields, knives, daggers and scabbards, cooking utensils, sewing needles, axes and machetes, and clothing and shoes to conduct warfare, and the grain for warrior survival. In contemporary Somalia- beginning with the proclamation of independence in 1960-a section of majority tribes controlled the military, managed government business, and directed the economic sector while a sizable population lived peripatetic ancient lifestyles raring livestock away from the splendor of civilization. The displacement of the Bravanese, Bajuni, and Bantu tribes that industriously provided the bulk of Somalia’s fishing and agricultural produce triggered shortage of essential commodities and hastened massive national starvation.

In later years, the disintegration of the Somali navy fleet saw the nation’s expansive coastline fall victim to illegal fishing by foreign trawlers dragging internationally prohibited fishing nets consequently depleting the once blooming fish species. The sudden termination and crumbling of the Somali fishing industry resulted in the conception of piracy dragnets coordinated by disgruntled members of the defunct Somali Navy and former fishermen along the world’s busiest shipping lanes eventually prompting international condemnations and allied interventions. Regardless of the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of a handful of pirates by allied navies and the subsequent killing of an equal number, ransom money generated from merchant ships captured by Somali pirates has swamped the dwindling economies of a few Horn of African nations.

In the Juba and Shebelle regions, warlords embarked on massive land grabbing schemes resulting in the confiscation of farmlands belonging to struggling families. These unmitigated actions resulted in the same farmers reduced to playing the task of sharecropping or at times succumbing to the role of laboring in their confiscated farms while earning ‘starvation wages’. Mockingly, some of the warlords replaced the grabbed farmlands with huge marijuana plantations. They forced the displaced farmers to partake in the implementation of their illicit drug industry. Shockingly, the bulk of fighters serving Somalia’s warring factions are displaced farmers, fishermen, tradesmen, widowed mothers and orphaned children.

Even the Digil/ Mirifle, two large tribes occupying Bay region, Somalia’s ‘bread basket- who are anthropologically Somali in physical features but linguistically speak a language unintelligible to the other three bigger tribes, have not been exempt from the atrocities that followed the collapse of the central government. Baidoa, the capital city of Bay province was dubbed ‘the City of Death’ by the western media in 1992 due to widespread hunger that evolved after pitiless militias torched granaries that housed the region’s agricultural produce. It was this atrocity that prompted the international community to declare a humanitarian disaster with the U.S. and the U.N. spearheading what became known as Operation Restore Hope.

Besides, Somalia had a handful of ostracized minority tribes whose primary source of survival was the art of shoemaking, metal forging, and running of slaughterhouses, house décor, tailoring, and ownership of amusement centers. These tribes also produced talented musicians and great entertainers. In Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, there is a tribe called ‘Rer Hamar’; because of their light-skinned complexion, Somalis call them ‘Cad-Cad’-meaning whitish. They are industrious, creative, and highly skilled in many trades that are alien to the domineering Somali. There are also the Tumaal and Madhibaan who, despite being highly skilled, have been subjected to harsh living conditions for centuries. The use of derogatory language was rampant in Somalia. While curly or soft-haired Somalis regarded themselves as ‘jileec’, they referred to Somali-Bantus as ‘jareer’-a term denoting thorny or hard-haired. It was not permissible for minority tribes to marry from majority clans and vice versa. The trend continues to this day.

Ramada Mubarak! Ramadan Kareem

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Islamic Events 2010*
•Al-Hijra - 1st Muharramn (Islamic New Year) December 18, 2009
•Israa'/Me'raj (Night Journey to Heavens) July 08, 2010
•Lailatul-Bara'at (Night of Salvation) July 26, 2010
•Ramadan Fasting Begins in North America: August 11, 2010*
•Lailat Ul Qadr (Night of Power): September 05, 2010
•Eid-Al-Fitr (End of Ramadan): September 10, 2010
•Eid-al-Adha (10th Zul-Hijjah) November 16, 2010

The Horrors of Female Genital Mutilation

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I have a bone to pick with our friendly readers and esteemed followers of this blog. For almost two decades beginning with the fall of the military junta in Somalia in 1991, the most burning issue posted on many Somali web sites and continuously debated over and over echoed topics related to the state of the Somali nation yet little attention has been given to social issues- especially the most excruciating practice that has caused unspeakable pain and suffering to our daughters, sisters, mothers, nieces, and grandmothers-living or dead.

It is a practice that is commonly known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)-a practice whose origins remain shrouded in mystery. Other than unreliable mythological explanations, questionable rationality, historical narratives devoid of relative validity, and philosophical thoughts immersed in objectivity, societies who practice FGM have miserably failed to come up with religiously and theoretically convincing evidence regarding its benefits to womankind.

Female Genital Mutilation-also known as FGM was coined by the United Nations to refer to a practice found in some African and Middle Eastern cultures whose origin goes back to the era of the pharaohs of Egypt (though no historical data exist to substantiate such claim) where women underwent the ritual of clitoridectomy which implied the removal of the clitoris, and infibulations meaning to surgically cut-off either the labia minora or labia majora or all at the same time.

Many reasons have been given as to why people of those days applied this agonizing procedure to their wives and daughters. One theory suggests that Egypt of those days was always embroiled in wars internally and externally which meant women and girls left behind became prey to servants and other men around them. We also learn from authorities familiar with the cultural practices of Egypt, Nubba, Abyssinia, and Somalia how women resorted to unusual artificial sexual procedures to satisfy their sexual desires in the absence of their men. One definition to infibulation is “to close off or obstruct the genitals of, especially by sewing together the labia majora in females or fastening the prepuce in males, so as to prevent sexual intercourse.” [1] The picture shown above depicts a female baby being circumcised probably without procedural anesthesia. The surgical tool being used in the operation, regardless of whether it is a double-edged Gillette or a Nacet blade could be contaminated and may have been used dozens of times.

To discourage a victim of circumcision from raising any objection to the procedure in adulthood, parents ensure their daughters undergo the cut at an early age. Here are some key facts from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding FGM:
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
• Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.
• It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years.
• In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
• FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

For many women, FGM is a rite of Passage. The healing duration depends on the strength of the victim’s immune system. Medications used during convalescence include application of sifted ash to affected area, herbal medications, sprinkling of capsule powder (preferably antibiotics) or any feasible medication. In many societies where the practice is widespread, it is societal pressures that lead women to undergo the procedure as a precondition for marriage. [2] Regardless of the implications this pharaonic practice may have on women and girls, leaders who are strict in the observation of local customs condone the continuation of the practice as a deterrence for HIV/AIDS epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases.

In some communities such as in Sudan and Somalia, the practice is so common that it is as if those engaged in the practice are going by the adage, “old customs die hard”. Almost 90% of women in Djibouti, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia have had the cut in one form or the other. Worldwide, the practice is widespread in 28 countries. Feeling emotionally broken, females who feel affected most by the cut have a propensity to resort to atheism or other religious practices after renouncing the faiths they grew up in. In some documented cases, immigrant parents living in the west have been accused of taking girls back to countries of origin to undergo the cut.

While many who practice FGM cite religious references, some Islamic scholars disprove its use in the strongest terms. Those scholars who refute FGM claim it is neither obligatory nor supererogatory and that it is simply tribal customs that has been in continuation for millenniums. FGM leads to lacerations, microbes, and deformities. As you will see on a YouTube debate between two Arabic-speaking scholars conducted by a female moderator on memritv, 95% of Egyptian prostitutes are circumcised while 100% of prostitutes of the west aren’t. [3]

The agony faced by the millions of women who had the cut cannot be described in a simple essay. Removing the clitoris of a woman is like removing the penis or tongue of a man. Where there is no tongue, there is no sense of taste; and where there is no penis, penetration, climax, and erection are hard to achieve. No matter how many Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra a penis-less man consumes and no matter the power and pressure of suction of an erection pump, sexual satisfaction will remain an elusive attraction. We'll leave it to our experts to come up with remedial measures to save the rest who are waiting in line for the procedure from further harm.

[1] http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/infibulate

[2] Iraqi Kurdistan: Girls and Women Suffer the Consequences of Female Genital Mutilation, June 16, 2010
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/16/iraqi-kurdistan-girls-and-women-suffer-consequences-female-genital-mutilation

[3]

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• British girls undergo horror of genital mutilation despite tough laws (irreligion.org)

Sheikh Sharif: The Airborne President

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Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Somalia’s Transitional Federal President has become a habitual traveler. Every now and then he is on the move traversing thousands of miles by air across continents. Whenever he prepares to depart the presidential palace, armed opposition groups lob artillery fire at his entourage and the AMISOM troops guarding him. And whenever his plane touches down the runway at Mogadishu airport, insurgents greet him with barrage of artillery fire. Somalia’s presidency may be described as the most dangerous executive position in the world. Villa Somalia-Somalia’s Presidential Palace-has become the most unpredictable place for any president to reside. The security of the president is so much at stake such that even the most finely hand-picked tribal warriors most closely related to the president may not provide guaranteed security due to bickering over resources and nonpayment of wages.

Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Sheikh Sharif’s predecessor, set base in 2004 at a warehouse in Baidoa after finding Villa Somalia a risky place to operate from. In Baidoa, President Yusuf was provided with a strong security detail manned by heavily-armed Ethiopian occupation forces. Mockingly, even the forces of the Lion of Judah could not provide President Yusuf the security he looked forward to. On one occasion suicide bombers infiltrated a ceremony presided over by the President leaving behind a bloodbath. On the other hand, Professor Ali Gedi Mohamed, Yusuf’s hand-picked Prime Minister once escaped a similar suicide bombing in Mogadishu though one of his relatives perished in the premeditated blast hatched by Somalia’s foreign fighters. Both President Yusuf and Prime Minister Gedi left the political spectrum disgraced and dejected.

Sheikh Sharif’s administration lacks rigid Foreign and National Security Policy operations for sustaining compromise and stability. Majority of the opposition leaders have been in the same camp with Sheikh Sharif before partying ways. By picking moderation to fundamentalism, Sheikh Sharif suffered the brunt of the opposition for deviating from the initial extreme Islamic concept of Jihad they previously advocated together during their joint struggle against the dreaded Somali warlords and the Ethiopian occupation forces. Thus, to the opposition, Sheikh Sharif is an obstacle to national stability and a proxy figure who is serving un-Islamic foreign forces opposed to the establishment of a collective Islamic state for Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

Determined to frighten the increased AMISOM force destined for Somalia, al-Shabab, the strongest jihadist faction in Somalia recently forged alliance with Hizb-al-islam- a smaller group with a long history of armed resistance. Both groups have been calling residents to join the broader jihad being implemented in the country while at the same time conscripting young Somalis into their fold in the regions they control. In Yemen al-Qaida is sending material and moral support to both groups for the sake of keeping its global insurrection alive. On the other hand, the disappearance of 1,000 Somali police officers trained in Ethiopia and funded by the German government could be an added advantage for the two factions should this new force be received with open hands.

The major cause of defection in the army and police is due to nonpayment of salaries and arrears. Often, government soldiers defect with their weapons and significant intelligence tidbits that boost opposition acumen and fighting power. The current Somali government lacks accountability and no wonder embezzlement is rife and that corruption has grown roots everywhere. Somalia is on the top of the list of the most corrupt states in the world. While Somali leaders travel around the world with empty begging bowls in hand, the disappearance of donor funds earmarked for the welfare of the suffering mass exacerbates the withholding of intended philanthropic gestures by foreign entities.

The prime responsibility of any head of state is to safeguard the security of the state. Unfortunately, for Somalia, the picture is different as both the president, prime minister, and the speaker of parliament have little time sitting in their offices-not because they are overburdened by national policy issues-but because they spend most of their time leaping from one foreign airport to the other. For any nation determined to prosper politically, socially, and economically, it is of paramount importance that a strong security force be in place. The rule of law must be held in high esteem so that businesses may operate without encumbrances.

Of late, the nation’s 550 members of parliament have not resolved a single conceivable legislative draft nor have they unanimously passed any bill as majority are either illiterate or semiliterate, harbor divergent political views or are divided along clan lines. The persistent division visible within the TFG gives the insurgents more clout and unanimity in their endeavors to eliminate any existing government hierarchy and establishment. As long as the leaders of the TFG continue treading blatantly their peripatetic lifestyles and globetrotting attitudes, remorseless pounding of government positions by the opposition will continue unabated.

Uganda’s Museveni Promises to Finish Somalia’s al-Shabab

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, came to the throne of Uganda’s highest office in January of 1986. Ever since, besides skirmishes with the Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony, Uganda has remained at peace not until last week when two well-coordinated simultaneous suicide bombs thought to have been planted by Somalia’s militant group al-Shabab shuttered the tiny nation’s capital Kampala at a time when Ugandans were glued to their televisions in anticipation of the final world cup soccer match between Spain and the Netherlands in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Saddened by the heinous crime that crippled his nation on that fateful Sunday, Yoweri Museveni has promised to send extra troops for the AMISOM mission in Somalia. In an African Union meeting convened in Kampala this week, Museveni asked union members to allow AMISOM troops to pursue al-Shabab militants anywhere and anytime inside of Somalia.

For sure, Museveni does not understand the enormity of Somalia’s instability and the strength of al-Shabab as a force. What Museveni fails to understand is that al-Shabab is a splinter group from the former Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) that routed Ethiopia’s occupation forces a few years ago in the streets of Mogadishu. For sure, Museveni’s wild imaginations are easier said than done. The man must be daydreaming.

Joseph Kony, the atrocious warlord who wrecked havoc in Uganda for many decades and aided by an army of Ugandan child-soldiers and sex slaves, remains on the run in the jungles of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Leg-and-hand-slashing Joseph Kony has evaded all kinds of international dragnets. In order to turn a blind eye on the plunders of the LRA's ragtag militia, Yoweri Museveni feels its time to open a new warfront.

Alice Lakwena, the prophetess who shared the same views as Joseph Kony and who aided him in his war operations, miraculously died in Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. Let it be known to many that the plunders of the natural resources of the Democratic People's Republic of Congo by the Uganda army has not been forgotten.

Despite the west seeing Museveni as a ‘promising African leader’, for many in Uganda he is nothing but a criminal whose days are numbered. Under Museveni, Uganda enjoys little political freedom. Many in the opposition feel suppressed by the biased state security apparatus.

Twin Blasts Rock Uganda

The Ugandan capital has been rocked by twin blasts that left 64 people and many others injured. According to BBC reports, one of the blasts happened at a rugby field while the other occured at an Ethiopian restaurant. While it is premature to speculate at this time those behind the carnage, fingers are being pointed at Somalia's al-Shabab who have in the past threatened Uganda. Uganda has peacekeeping troops representing the African Union in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In the past, al-Shabab has been battling AMISOM troops from Uganda and Burundi and those of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Immediately after the blasts in Kampala, a representative of al-Shabab heaped praise on those who engineered the plot. The chief of police in Kampala thinks it is al-Shabab that carried out the bombings. It is being reported that an American from Pennsylvania was among the injured. The President of the United States, Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton deplored those who carried out the despicable acts in Kampala saying that help is on the way to apprehend those suspected of being behind the heinous acts.

Despite al-Shabab calling for vengeance against AMISOM troops in the past, it has never explored extremist avenues outside of Somalia. If proven beyond reasonable doubt that al-Shabab had a hand in the Kampala bombings, then it will have demonstrated its capability of inflicting harm in places previously thought of as beyond its reach. Al-shabab and its sister faction Hizb al-Islam believe in the creation of a greater emirate for Somalia. Leaders of Islamist groups fighting in Somalia are known by their nom de guerres which often have Arabic rhymings.

In southern and central Somalia where the two factions control large swathes of land, the institution of Islamic sharia seem to hold for now. Many towns have been given Arabic names; residents have been instructed to observe Islamic etiquettes and shun colonial or European-imposed ways of life. Women are required to wear full hijab and separate quotas have been assigned for their use in public transportation; men are required to keep beards and shorten moustache; the carrying of the rosary is forbidden; ringing of school bells are unacceptable; watching of the world cup soccer games is forbidden; women may not wear bras nor wear make-up; and it is compulsory for all able-bodied men and women to partake in jihad agaisnt the enemies of Islam.

Uganda is a small country in East Africa and is a member of the Intergovenmental Authority on Development (IGAD)that comprise founding member-states Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Many innocent civilians have perished in the frequent skrmishes between the Islamists and AMISOM forces prompting leaders of the Islamists to issue fatwas or religious edicts calling for revenge against the nations of Uganda and Burundi. In a meeting recently held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, member-states agreed to send extra 2,000 troops to Somalia to boost the 6,100 force already in Mogadishu. The agreement signed in Addis Ababa triggered widespread demonstrations in areas under the control of al-Shabab and Hizb al-Islam-the two formidable factions fighting for control of Mogadishu.

Increased IGAD Troops will not Stabilize Somalia

In a hastily convened meeting in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa last week, Somalia’s president called for the immediate deployment of extra troops from IGAD member states to confront the threat of al-Shabab that has been battling Somalia’s fragile government. Attending the meeting were leaders from IGAD member-states. They included Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki. After lengthy hours of deliberation, IGAD member-states agreed to the deployment of 2,000 extra troops to be drawn from states neighboring Somalia so as to boost the 4,500 overstretched and exhausted AMISOM troops from Uganda and Burundi who remain besieged on all sides by opposition armed groups who are battling Sheikh Sharif’s otiose government in Mogadishu.

Formerly the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), IGAD, which stands for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development was founded in 1984 and incoprporates the Horn of Africa nations of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda. IGAD works in concert with international organizations, has a secretariat headquartered in Addis Ababa, and routinely convenes consultative meetings to discuss issues affecting member-states. Almost every IGAD member-state is confounded by insecurity. Ethiopia, a country synonymous with starvation also remains unstable because of the several armed liberation movements that are fighting for separation. Ethiopia's hotly contested 2005 presidential and parliamentary election became a subject of international condemnation after the ruling party indiscriminately jailed or killed many members of the opposition. Ethiopia has gone to war with neighboring Eritrea twice over a stretch of dusty land where an estimated one million people perished. Djibouti, a tiny former French colony bordering Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia has been emroiled in a bitter war with FURD-a rebel faction dominated by the Afar tribe who feel marginalized by the ruling Issa clan of president Ismail Gelle.

Somalia has been described as a "failed-state" for it has been without a central government since 1991 when the last military government fell to a ragtag milia commanded by the notorious General Mohamed Farah Aidid. Uganda has been in the midst of armed struggle with Joseph Kony-a rebel commander who is thought to be hiding in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republuc of Congo (DRC). On the other hand, Uganda has its own restive Karamoja region populated by the wretched Karamojong tribe. Sudan has been a victim of military coups for decades; the north of the country is occupied by Arabs and the south by black Africans. The SPLA, a rebel movement that operated in the south of the country has now laid down arms after the guarantee of some form of autonomy. Currently, it enjoys relative peace Salva Kiir as Vice President of Sudan as well as president of autonomous southern Sudan. A referendum is expected to be held soon to determine the fate of the southerners. On the western corner of Sudan is the restive Darfur region whose inhabitants have been subjected to years of torture by the dreaded Arab Janjaweed militia. Kenya can explode anytime because of the hatred that exist between the president's Kikuyu clan and the Prime Minister's Luo. A disputed presidential election in 2008 left over a thousand dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Upon IGAD releasing a hastily-crafted communiqué about its decision to send more troops to Somalia, demonstrators in several towns inside Somalia took to the streets to protest at what they termed as “IGAD’s bad intentions”. In separate strongly-worded messages aimed at dissuading IGAD member states from interfering in Somali internal affairs, the spiritual leaders of Al-Shabab and Hizb-al-Islam-the two major factions leading the onslaught against the fragile Somali government-decried IGAD’s ill-intentions toward Somalia. A former interim president of Somalia, Abdiqasin Salad Hassan, speaking to a local radio station in Mogadishu, voiced his objection at IGAD’s troop increase. Likewise, some members of Somalia’s parliament voiced similar sentiments.

Meanwhile, the Somali general leading the fight against the Islamists has come-up with a fighting strategy that will limit the degree of harm inflicted on innocent civilians. He was quoted saying that in the future forces under his command will be required to confront the opposition in their hideouts and away from civilian populations. For many war strategists, how to implement the general’s new approach to war may seem impervious to reasoning. What the Somali general fails to grasp is that even distinctive surveillance and special reconnaissance applied by advanced armies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo have failed to preserve civilian lives.

As a regional bloc IGAD has preposterously failed in its Somalia operations. For the moment, the best it can do is to open direct negotiations with the opposition-a proposition that will obviously end in disarray-because the ultimate goal of the Islamists is to impose Islamic sharia in Somalia. For Sheikh Sharif, because all your good intentions of establishing an all-inclusive government have been out-rightly rejected by the opposition, the best option you can do is relinquish power so as to allow fresh blood take over the helm.

Fireworks, Noise, and Extravagance: American way of Merrymaking

The way Americans commemorate yearly special occasions is cause for alarm. With the most memorable days in the U.S. being Christmas Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day, what troubles many who choose to remain on the sidelines is how celebrations are conducted on these special days. Statistically, Americans spend millions of dollars on booze, barbeque, and fireworks in a matter of hours; Americans consume three times more beef than the rest of the nations of the world combined; and it has been proven that Americans consume more alcohol than any other nation during special occasions like Independence Day and Labor Day. On the other hand, the number of revelers involved in road fatalities exceeds those of many countries. Usually, all hell breaks loose after midnight when the sky is lit with displays of fireworks that continue late into the night if not the wee hours of the morning. Then it is booze as usual. Despite increased police surveillance, criminal activities such as burglaries, robberies, vehicular theft, purse snatching, arson, rape and murder become an observable factor. Neighborhoods most affected by acts of criminality are poor neighborhoods populated by blacks and Hispanics. For the media fraternity, after the dust settles, key discussions that attract attention include the terrible nature of startling incidents recorded nationwide. Thereafter, as usual, breaking news broadcasts, commentaries, analyses, and endless ballyhoo about crime statistics in the nation receive weighty reflection.

For many with heart ailments, the sounds of fireworks make their nights and days unbearable if not deadly. Most affected by the tremendous echoic vibrations and reverberating decibels are the elderly, young children, women in labor, and the sick whose body metabolism may not bear the deafening impacts. Businesspeople engaged in the fireworks trade pitch tents days before the projected celebrations. Advertisements on television and radio proliferate and billboards are erected to lure the unsuspecting extravagant consumer. Since Americans are known to be way ahead of the times, individual families may purchase stocks of firecrackers to the tune of hundreds of dollars as early as several months before in anticipation for the ceremonial occasion. And when the day comes, regardless of rain or shine, the blast of epic firework displays radiating from every direction of every city and dwelling would obviously put a newcomer into hasty retreat. Upon wrapping the ceremonial occasion, used crackers of every shape, size, and color strewn everywhere become challenging and eyesore for pedestrians of all walks of life. No wonder when the occasion comes to an end, with the exception of business operators, millions of consumers may remain penniless until the next paycheck. Some businesses may slowdown or come to a standstill for a while until the economy resuscitates again for the better.

U.S. Foreign Policy toward Africa

With 17 African countries celebrating 50 years since the first proclamation of independence from colonial European powers in the 60s, the administration in Washington, DC feels its time to celebrate with African youth leaders to commemorate the significant gains made by Africans and Africa’s increasingly important voice on the world stage. With the opening of the annual U.S.-Africa Economic Forum expected to kick-off August 2, cabinet members from 38 African countries and high-level American officials will convene to deliberate on themes based on youth, governance, and opportunity.

According to Benjamin Chang, spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC), the venue will bring together young Africans, the Diaspora Community, U.S. Government officials, civil society organizations, and the private sector. The first part of the economic conference will be held in Washington, DC and will be attended by the U.S. secretaries of State, Commerce, Agriculture and the administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development. The theme of the conference will be “AGOA at 10, New Strategies for a Changing World.” The second part of the conference will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 5-6. To be attended by U.S. companies and private sector representatives from a number of 38 AGOA-eligible countries, the main focus will be on agri-business.

To the serious observer of African politics, the mention of the phrase "significant gains" may seem ludicrous and out of the ordinary. Instead, what comes to mind is the horrendous political miscalculations, abject poverty, shameless totalitarianism, endless misrule and communism, protracted developmental retardations, misguided principles, vestiges of colonialism and hosts of endless political plunders wrought on the poor continent for over a half century. Instead of African youths sitting side by side with the same barefaced African leaders who fleeced the African continent, is it not better they hold these bogus leaders accountable for their breach of contracts? In anticipation of aid, for sure these 38 Afican heads of states eligible for AGOA beneficiaries will assemble with 38 empty begging bowls and shoddy projects. Because the United States prefers authoritarianism to totalitarianism for the sake of its foreign ploicy interests, no wonder many totalitarian rulers will arrive in Washington, DC in authoritarian regalia.

A New Era for Somaliland?

In a recently-concluded presidential election in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland, a political party known as Kulmiye (unity in Somali) elected political doyen Ahmed Silanyo as new president after trouncing incumbent Dahir Riyale Kayin by a wide-margin in a free and fair election supervised by international observers. Ahmed Silanyo held several ministerial positions during the reign of the military junta that ruled Somalia with ironfist from 1969 until 1991. A holder of two college degrees obtained from educational institutions in Britain, Mr. Silanyo brings with him a wealth of knowledge and years of experience to Somaliand's stable but economically handicapped peripatetic citizens who have been victims of endemic corruption and gross economic mismanagement since declaring separation from Somalia proper in 1998.

Preceded in office by Dahir Riyale Kahin, a ruthless former colonel in the now-defunct Somali army, Mr. Silanyo inherits an enclave beset by many conflicting factors. A founding member of the Somali National Movement (SNM), Silanyo, in his heydays as a guerilla fighter, brushed shoulders with the likes of the despised warlord General Mohamed Farah Aideed-the man responsible for much of Somalia's unending political entanglement. The acclaimed Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down features the disastrous American intervention in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope in 1993 and the hunt for General Aideed.

Somaliland's quest for separation from Somalia remains an issue of profound importance among Somalilanders who predominantly make the greater population of the former northwest and togdheer regions of Somalia. Despite the election that brought Silanyo to power remaining free and fair, absolutely no voting took place in the expansive Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions populated by the Dhulbahante and Warsengeli tribes who belong to the majority Darod clan. In fact, there have been reports of ballot confiscations, armed skirmishes between forces from Hargeisa and those of the Dhulbahante, and cases of defections from Somaliland armed forces.

In broader political science and macro-economics, the notion that the bigger the land mass of a state the better the prospects for economic prosperity seem to evade the thoughts of the feverish and shallow-minded usurper driven by opportunism, greed, and petty politics. Nations like the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Brazil, and India remain a force to reckon with in economics, education, and global politics. China, Russia, and the U.S. enjoy significant veto powers and have to their credit advanced technology, military muscle, and scientific explorations while tiny nations like Djibouti and Eritrea lag behind in all aspects of life. Some economists even call for the removal of Africa's imaginary barriers imposed by colonial powers.

The dismemberment of Somalia into cantons will only benefit those few wielding considerable powers; the rest of the citizenry will undoubtedly live in abject poverty. A case in point is a coverage posted on http://www.wardheernews.com and referenced from IRIN news in which the pathetic living conditions of Hargeisa's marginalized minority Gabooye people are highlighted. Somalilanders consider the Gabooye as inferior, filthy, and outcasts who may not intermingle with nor intermarry other major clans. Despite being Somalis and Muslims, these people are to remain poor, helpless, and ostracized forever.

IRIN, the refugee online news source put the number of Gabooye living in Hargeisa at 8,000 families (48,000 people) mostly living on the fringes of poverty. Since the propspects of the Gabooye securing white-collar or blue-collar jobs have been restricted by ceturies-old Somali social classifications in place, their survival depends on the preservation of skills inherited from their ancestors. What remains left for them include routine house-to-house begging, work as blacksmiths, shoemaking, work in slaughterhouses, work in pathologically and epidemiologically disastrous environments, and anything else deemed unacceptable to the upperclass Somalis.

While we welcome Silanyo's election as president of Somaliland, what is worth comprehending is the importance of the wise saying, "unity is strength." About Silanyo's election, for sure we know one thing about African politics: not one single African leader has been credited with delivering his/her people from the bondage of corruption, mismanagement, embezzlement, clanism, and general decay. It would be an illusion to expect Silanyo to deliver fresh Manna and quail to the poor unrecognized state of Somaliland for now and for the foreseable future.