Apr
26
Somalia – victim under super power rivalry
April 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang The image of starving children has become symbol of Somalia which was once one of the most flourishing African nations. But today, even emergency food that around 4 million homeless and jobless people are living on, required army escorted to carry them for distribution. To the frustration of emergency relief organization like Unicef, [...]
Apr
25
Clan system – unifying or dividing a nation?
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang
One of the biggest headache in handling Somalia has been the endless civil wars between clans to rival for power. Very often, as many as 12 different clans have their warlords come to power and represent their own clan to fight for the limited resources in their country. Clans have been the largest political units among Somalia. [...]
Apr
25
History of Somalia (3) – Recent politics
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang
Mohamed Farrah Aidid, mentioned in the above article which focused on the history of “Black Hawk Down”, was later killed on Mogadishu in 1996.
In 2006, conflict broke out again between an alliance of Mogadishu warlords known as the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) and a militia loyal to the [...]
Apr
25
History of Somalia (2) – Hunger is the biggest weapon
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang
The only famous film in history which has a background on Somalia is Black Hawk Down. It was based on true event happened in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1993.
Mohamed Farrah Aidid, one of the warlord in Mogadishu started to attack peacekeeping force within the country and seized all food aid which [...]
Apr
25
History of Somalia (1)
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Emily Tsang
At the Berlin Conference of 1884, the scramble for Africa started the long and bloody process of the imperial partition of Somali lands. Somalia was divided into two and became the British and Italian colony.
The independence of the British Somaliland proclaimed on 26 June 1960 and unification with the former Italian Somaliland took [...]
Apr
24
From Darfur, with love
April 24, 2008 | 1 Comment
By Meryam
For my last post I had intended to write about something else, but I read this story and immediately wanted to share it.
Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the Darfur conflict. On this occasion, a remarkable petition, consisting of over 30,000 handwritten signatures and testimonies from Darfuri refugees, will be submitted to [...]
Apr
23
Improve agriculture to solve food crisis in Africa
April 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Meryam
The ongoing 12th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Ghana has placed hunger and food as its top priority. Rising food prices over the past months and the subsequent riots breaking out from Africa to Asia, led UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to state that UNCTAD “could not [...]
Apr
20
Relics of liberation are becoming the isolated men of Africa
April 20, 2008 | 3 Comments
By Penny (10)
Their countries sit side by side in Southern Africa. Their Presidents enjoy a close political relationship and ideology, yet in their own lands and within the African continent and around the world Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa are increasingly being seen as relics of Africa’s liberation struggle.
It’s ironic [...]
Apr
20
Mugabe’s arms order is all at sea
April 20, 2008 | 1 Comment
By Penny (9)
Last week it took the actions of a South African trade union and a human rights group, not the African Unity or United Nations, to help prevent a potential electoral genocide in Zimbabwe. Both Zimbabwean and South African presidents Robert Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki have been embarrassed on the world stage by this incident.
Three [...]
Apr
19
For Sudan athletes, Olympics signifies hope
April 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
By Cindy Ru
Many Darfur activists take the Beijing Olympics as a great chance to exert pressure on the Chinese government, but for the twelve Sudan athletes that are busy training for the Games in a shabby stadium in Khartoum, the talk of boycotting the Olympics is rather absurd. For them, it is an event to [...]
