The balance between unacceptable and acceptable in the world needs to be maintained. Naturally when a far reaching medium such as the social brings us social networking sites that spice up our lives a little, it also attracts the fractious few of society. Some of the things that could lead to potential social fragmentations. 

Today we are in juncture where we get information in a glimpse of eye thanks to particularly Facebook and Twitter. However the flip side of the coin attracts members of our society who I would like them to think before they interfere others space.

Today young Aar Maanta wrote "every gun man belongs to a clan in Somalia" referring to the death of saada A Warsame who has been shot dead at the Somali capital today. Many people translated this as clan attack which I certainly know that wasn't Aar's intention. And of course every gun men in Somalia belongs to a clan.

At the same day, knaan wrote "The killer of saada Ali do not share some religion with me" referring to Al-Shabaab. After this comment many accused him for being non- believer. Regally, can't take you serious.

Some of us has been forced not even write or share their views of events and what is happening around the world due to our deficit of understand and accommodating different views.

It is perfectly fine to ask someone to elaborate what they wrote if you are not sure what it means. Before judgement which can have impact on someone.

Therefore, my sincere advice to those who comments on others posts, please seek advice if you don't understand what the comment means or the intention behind. By doing this we will be able to have constructive, beneficial and balance debate and discussion about issues and subjects.

By: Adam Matan.

Who broke the Adis Ababa agreement?

It looks like the conflict between the federal government of Somalia and Juba Administration is back.

The Addis Ababa agreement between the Somali government and then Ras Kambooni administration has no legal bases but it has a guarantee, means it depends on the position of the neighbouring Ethiopia and the security and political situations of Somalia.

6 months have passed since the agreement was reached, according to that agreement, the administration should hand over the ports to the federal government of Somalia.

For some how, officials from the administration have stated that they will not hand over the ports to the federal government.

Some analysts believe that they were trying to take advantage of the reports that were mentioning the government   infightings, the insecurity etc therefore, since then, they haven't been contacted because of the government being busy with itself!!

In this way-who ever advises in there- they thought they can sell this card to the world and be dealt with them as a regional state because the government  cannot do its national duties!

When president Hassan heard this, he gave the green light to the die-hard officials in the government.

The jubba leader has been to Ethiopia, he didnt won that one, now he is in kenya so he can meet with some western diplomats, Djibouti is also inviting him.

A delegation led by the Somali interior minister are on their way to Kismayo to save the agreement, they want to get the ports and integrate the armies/militias in side and out side of kismayo without exceptions, some reports are saying they already appointed the local commanders for the army in there but haven't yet arrived

The Juba administration is against this and see it as a coup and want to select them by themselves.

The agreement states the integration of the militias, also the UN envoy has stated during his visit to kismayo that the handing over of the ports to the government and the integration of the militias are a must.

If the things were not sorted out, the government may take advantage of this and accuse the Juba administration of breaking the agreement.

The other things that the timing is not good for Juba administration, though Kismayo still has the KDF, Kenya is in a bad position it also has better relationship with the federal government  now so they may not support the administration this time publicly.

Let us wait and see how they will treat the government officials.

The Economist "Somalis in Britain: They are the largest refugee population, are among the poorest, worst-educated & least-employed" 

http://t.co/CLwQv1NISm

Really?

This is an ignorant piece if misinformation that demonstrates once again what has become of The Economist.

What a narrow minded article, This is beyond offensive, wrong, foul and ignorant. I wonder the person who wrote this has any brain cells to think constructively! This article is simply not telling the truth. 

There are many small minded people out here. Generalizing entire community, it's absolutely ridiculous.

Humans tend to jump to conclusions based on insufficient information.

What do you think of this article?

A heartfelt congratulation to my fellow Somali brother Abukar Awale.

Congratulation to my fellow Somali brother Abukar Awale (The famous Anti-Khat Campaigner) for not giving up on his dream which was to see khat to be banned in the UK completely and i am pleased that he has finally achieved that historic victory by the help of the Somali community in the UK as a whole. As Nelson Mandela taught us to never give up on something that seems impossible which i believe Abukar practiced what Mandela taught us as he famously said, “it always seems impossible until it’s done.'' Abukar has throughout sacrificed and dedicated his life for the good of the Somali people in the Uk. Indeed he is a national hero without a doubt and  he is truly an inspiration to many young kids who are lacking of a good fatherhood.

The 60 year old legal importation into the UK of the stimulant substance known widely as khat have finally been brought to an end, as the substance is added to Class C of the Misuse of Drugs Act. 

The drug is already been outlawed in other European countries, to avoid Britain becoming a hub for trading in a substance that was illegal elsewhere. 

I personally believe that Khat is our second biggest enemy after Qabiil/Qabyaalad and the Somali community in the UK have broadly welcomed the ban as well as it will give hope to many mothers and wives whom their families have been destroyed by this drug.

Khat was/is an obstacle to the essence of integration, unemployment, debt, crime, misery and mental health problems.

It has destroyed the social fabric of Somali families, It has also victimized hundreds of thousands of children as they don't get the affection, kindness, and care of their fathers and mothers, which affects the nurturing of these children. Spending their time sitting around chewing Khat instead of furthering their education, working towards a future, or making a difference in the world. 

From the High divorce rate to the mass unemployment in our community; Khat has a BIG share of the blame.

More stay-at-home dads taking care of their children will be seen soon Insha’ALLAH, instead of spending their time at Marfish and chewing bloody grass. 

Massive thanks to the British government for listening their vulnerable citizens by banning Khat.

Somalia president takes the right move in the right time!

Due to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE president Hassan Sheikh is participating the inauguration of Abdulfatah Azizi as president of Egypt! 

This is a great strategy to get the financial and political backing of the Arab world wich is dominated by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait who's a bit neutral in their conflict with the new broker Qatar

Having seen how Sudan is aligned with Qatar and Turkey and lacks the rest of the gulf backing, if Somali government secures the gulf States and Turkey together will be a great diplomatic achievement!

The Somali government has received yesterday a four modern coast guard boats from the visiting Turkish war navy!

What a geopolitical changes! We are witnessing the re-birth of the somali state!

On the other hand, Djibouti is plying a good friend role for the government in the horn and IGAD by using its strategic relations with the US

Since presidents Ismail Ghelle visit to Washington, the government has received more US support by appointing an american ambassador to somalia for the first time in decades!

Djibouti has also involved more in IGAD and AMISOM policies towards somalia.

So, having turkey, saudi arabia, UAE, djibouti and behind them the US is a great diplomatical development for hassan sheikhs regime!

"Broke Down Palace"

I just finished watching "Broke Down Palace". Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale suffer one of the biggest nightmares that can befall a traveler: getting thrown into a foreign jail for a crime they didn’t commit.

It was a terrifying movie for me to watch though but the first 10 minutes make me really excited to go to Thailand but after watching it I dont think i will ever go there.

Thailand was at the top of my travel wish list. I always wanted to visit the beautiful beaches, eat the food and hike the mountains of the north but getting thrown into jail for a crime I didn’t commit is highly unlikely to be on the agenda.

Unfortunately, this sort of stuff can happen when traveling.

Sarah Shourd and Laura Ling are two recent examples of travelers jailed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While Brokedown Palace may be a sensationalised Hollywood movie, there are some things we can learn from watching it.

Darlene is tricked into signing a confession written in Thai. They are sentenced to 33 years in a Thai women’s prison. Alice, on the other hand, had the right idea when she refused to say anything.

Lesson learned: When arrested abroad, be careful of signing or admitting to anything, especially if you don’t understand.

Warning! Major spoilers ahead!!!!

Alice (Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) when they have graduated from high school, they were planning their senior trip to Hawaii though Alice decided that Hawaii is too boring and convinces Darlene to lie to her dad and go to Thailand instead.

Don’t let your trip become another Hollywood movie!

This should be obvious but please: tell someone where you are going.

In fact, tell two people because what if something happens to the one person you told? It’s best to let a couple of people know your whereabouts when traveling.

Getting arrested in a foreign country is just as scary as Brokedown Palace makes it look. Hope any innocent person who was arrested on fake drug smuggling will be set free soon. 

British Teacher’s Heroism Versus Al Shabab’s Barbarism By Bashir Goth

A British Teacher’s Heroism Versus Al Shabab’s Barbarism

By Bashir Goth

Recently the British Dailymail carried the amazing story of a British teacher, Ray Coe, 53, who donated a kidney to his young student, a Muslim girl, Alya Ahmed Ali, 13. The story was emailed to me by a friend who also said in his email: “What would Al Shabab say about this act?” he added: “Before Allah, isn’t it better to save a life than kill one.” My reply to him after reading the story was: “Al Shabab would probably demand the girl be killed as she now carries an infidel’s organ in her body.” This is not an exaggeration as one would not expect a better response from a group that makes it their duty to extinguish life and everything beautiful in it.

As heroic as it is, the noble action of the teacher to donate his organ to the girl is also what we should expect from every person with decent upbringing, who learned as a child what it meant to be good and kind to your fellow human beings. Mr Coe says while he was pondering the donation he remembered a verse from the Bible that says: “Maybe you were born for such a time as this”. And he said: “It clicked and I knew then that it was right.”

We know and every Muslim knows that the Quran is full of similar beautiful verses that command its adherents to be kind and charitable. One of these verses says: “Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul … it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one, it is as if he had saved mankind entirely,” Al Mai’da, 32.  But the text is just a text as wise words can either be put to good use or construed in a distorted way by its followers. So while in the case of Mr Coe the line from the Bible brings the best out of him, it is unfortunate that the Quran has itself become a severely abused victim in the hands of its own people.

This British teacher saves this Muslim girl’s life not because he wanted to make a statement, not because he wanted to settle scores with anyone, not because he wanted to show that his religion is better than others, not because he wanted to convert the girl and change her religion, not because he thumped the Bible in the night and woke up in the morning with a vision to change the world, and not because he wanted to create a media stunt and grab  headlines; but on the contrary this kind teacher, a special educational needs coordinator,  thought only of what he could do as a human being to help alleviate the plight of little Alya and her parents, and he did the right thing. And as the school head teacher said: “Mr Coe has gone above and beyond the call of duty with this selfless and noble act.”

His only comfort was to see Alya’s reaction after he told her that he is going to be her organ donor: “When we told Alya, she just gave me a big squeeze and her face lit up. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of that,” he said.  However, in stark contradiction to the teachings of the Quran, Al Shabab followers wake up every morning with a plan on how many lives they can take, not how many lives they would save; they read Quran in the night and in their demented minds they come up with wrong self-serving interpretations. For them the Quran is not a holy book aimed at the betterment of life but a manifesto for war. While the British teacher made this great sacrifice to give life to a young girl, breaking all walls of division such as background, religion, and skin color,

Al Shabab and other extremist groups in the Muslim world every day slaughter their own country’s children, women and the elderly in schools, mosques, and restaurants. And while the smile of Alya brought tears to Mr Coe’s eyes, the grief of mothers and children who lostt heir loved ones in Al Shabab’s attacks does not bring tears to Al Shabab’s eyes but instead they shamelessly shout Allahu Akbar and invoke Quranic verses.

Given the choice to either go with Al Shabab of Somalia and other extremist killers in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt and elsewhere to wherever they go afterlife or to go with Ray Coe, it is clear who I would choose for company. And this is exactly in keeping with the true meaning of the Quran.

 

Bashir Goth

bsogoth@yahoo.com