Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Your Turn: Negativity toward Somali neighbors fosters hatred
I am writing to address Somali bias in Minnesota.
I am sure that immigrants may seem like they push down wages for some, but why do not we ask American corporations to pay better wages?
Another bias that we, as Americans, have the feeling of being invaded when people from other countries move into our local areas.
NEWS ANALYSIS: Somali central bank chief has experience of troubled jurisdictions
by Edmund Blair
Governor of Somalia's Central Bank Abdusalam Omer. Picture: REUTERS
WHEN the District of Columbia was in a financial crisis in the 1990s, Somali-born Abdusalam Omer joined a team that turned its "junk" bonds into investment grade paper.
Now, as the new governor of the Central Bank of Somalia, he wants to transform a "failed" state.
There is no escaping the scale of his new assignment. His office in Mogadishu is surrounded by the bombed out shells of former banks, symbols of Somalia’s shattered economy and its broken financial system after two decades of conflict.
"We have to build brick by brick and person by person," Mr Omer said at the smartly painted central bank, which stands out against the shattered remains of the former Banca di Roma, Commercial Bank of Somalia and other institutions.
"The task is so daunting," said Mr Omer, a dual Somali-US national who left Somalia at 16 and returned this year. But he is undeterred by the magnitude of the work that lies ahead.
Mr Omer aims to issue licences to commercial banks by the year end, a new currency to replace the tattered Somali shilling may be on the cards, and data is being gathered to build a picture of prices and other indicators to chart the informal economy that has emerged in the anarchy.
Mr Omer’s decision to take the central bank job is one more sign of a delicate recovery under way in the Horn of Africa state since its new parliament elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last year. Success is not assured. Islamist al-Shabaab militants continue to launch attacks from rural strongholds, clan divisions run deep and the government has limited control beyond Mogadishu’s boundaries. But creating a new economic order is seen as vital to shoring up the shaky peace.
"The absence of commercial banks is a major hindrance … to any reconstruction and development," said Mr Omer, who as deputy chief financial officer helped balance the budget of the district government of cash-strapped Washington DC. The central bank is now offering "provisional licences" so commercial banks can prepare to comply with anti-money laundering rules and the other regulations that must be met when full licences are issued, which Mr Omer plans for the last quarter of this year.
"We want to do it methodically and right," said Mr Omer, adding foreign banks were interested in licences but did not name them.
Yet years of chaos add complications to that careful approach. Dahabshiil, a Somali money transfer firm with an Islamic bank in Djibouti, already offers Islamic banking services in Somalia under a licence issued by a past regime, though its management says it will comply with any new code.
Dahabshiil is among several money transfer operations, telecommunications firms and others that have survived and even thrived since the fall in 1991 of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose Marxist-inspired rule gave way to anarchy under rival warlords and stringent codes imposed when Islamist militants took over.
"That informal economy is a robust economy," said Mr Omer, who has previously said it was growing at 5% to 7% a year.
Indicating a growing confidence, Somalia’s battered shilling has strengthened about 80% in the past two years since Islamist militants were ejected from Mogadishu by an African peacekeeping force. It now trades at about 18,000 to the dollar.
But the well-thumbed and ragged notes are in short supply because they were last printed before 1991, and the biggest denomination is 1,000 shillings, worth about five US cents.
A new currency could be on the way. "There is a unanimous understanding and agreement on the part of the Somali leadership that there is a need for a new currency and the Central Bank of Somalia will be working on that in due time," Mr Omer said.
He did not give details, but the former World Bank employee who trained the Shanghai municipality on bond issues said he expected support on the issue from the International Monetary Fund, which last month recognised Somalia’s government.
In the vacuum, many Somalis have relied on dollars and found innovative ways to work without a formal banking system.
Mobile firm Hormuud lets clients make payments or transfers of a few US cents by text message, vital when the smallest unit available in Somalia of the US currency is a dollar bill.
"One of the problems in a dollarised economy is breaking down the one dollar," said Mr Omer, adding this enterprising spirit needed to be harnessed as the formal economy was created.
As one of the first steps to that goal, the central bank is gathering data about inflation and other indicators needed for policy making. Next week, the bank issues its first economic report that will go up on its new website www.centralbank.so
"It might not be as useful as other reports around the world," said Mr Omer. "But for us it is a giant step."
Other routine central bank activities, such as issuing treasury bills, are further off.
Mr Omer said debt sales were "at least 24 months" away. He further said it was too early to discuss the bank’s reserves.
But in the meantime, he said there were other ways to repeat his Washington DC experience in his new post. "What would be considered a triple-A bond for Somalia is ... to provide our people security and quality of life."
Aource: Reuters
Monday, May 20, 2013
Somali Reaction to Al-Shabab Sentences Mixed
By AMY FORLITI
Wide-ranging sentences handed down in the yearslong federal investigation into recruiting and financing for the terrorist group al-Shabab have kindled a mix of outrage, confusion and relief among members of Minnesota's large Somali community.
Some say the 10- and 20-year prison sentences for two Minnesota women who sent money to the group were too harsh, especially since two men who traveled to Somalia and joined al-Shabab got three years. The attorney for one man sentenced to 20 years in prison has already filed a notice of appeal; more are expected.
But others say justice has been served, and authorities said the nine penalties doled out last week show that those who support terrorism will be held accountable.
"This misguided conduct is unacceptable," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement. "It will continue to be prosecuted vigorously."
Prosecutors have said the men and women were part of a "deadly pipeline," sending money and men to al-Shabab, which the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization for its links to al-Qaida and its tactics that include suicide bombings and assassinations. At least 22 men left Minnesota for Somalia since 2007 in what has been called one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters for a foreign terrorist organization.
Authorities say the conspiracy began in 2007, when small groups of Somali men began holding secret meetings about returning to their homeland to wage jihad against Ethiopians. Ethiopian troops had been brought into Somalia a year earlier by its U.N.-backed government, but many Somalis viewed them as invaders.
That sentiment came up often during the hearings, as Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis gave each defendant unlimited time to say whatever he or she wanted. Davis also asked family and community members to speak, and asked defendants about their time in Somalia and refugee camps.
Hassan Mohamud, the imam at a St. Paul mosque, commended Davis for that approach.
But Mohamud was among several people outraged after two women — Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan — received sentences of 20 and 10 years. Ali and Hassan had gone door-to-door, saying they were raising money for charity; they were convicted of funneling funds to al-Shabab.
"They didn't go back home. They didn't kill anyone. They just helped with the poor people," said Abdiwali Warsame, a St. Paul Somali who was interviewed outside the courthouse. He called the women's sentences an "injustice."
Three men who traveled to Somalia and pleaded guilty to terror-related charges received lower sentences after cooperating with authorities. Two received three-year prison stints; a third who stayed and fought alongside al-Shabab then lied to the FBI got 10 years. One man who admitted helping recruits obtain plane tickets — but was later characterized as a leader in recruitment efforts — received 12 years.
Last week's sentences are in line with other al-Shabab-related cases. In New Jersey, two men arrested while trying to board flights to Somalia for a jihad were sentenced to 22 and 20 years in prison. A southern California woman received eight years for sending money to Minnesota men in Somalia, while a Missouri man received more than 11 years for funding al-Shabab.
Abdirizak Bihi, the uncle of a teen killed while fighting in Somalia, said the sentences are the beginning of justice. The man accused of helping young Burhan Hassan and others with their trips was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
"I think it was justice, for Burhan, to see the recruiter, the person who took him to his death, being ... prosecuted here — right here — about a mile from home," Bihi said. "It was really great to go to your neighborhood and see justice happening."
Others raised concerns about potential bias after Davis questioned Ali and Hassan about whether they supported suicide bombings and Sharia law, and asked Hassan about her traditional dress. That led some Somalis to say Islam was under attack.
It also prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations to announce Friday that it will file a complaint against Davis, for allegedly linking mainstream Islamic principles with terrorism. Davis does not speak about court cases. His office referred The Associated Press to the court record.
Davis said in court that he struggles to understand what would make young men choose to return to violence in war-torn Somalia, and he wants to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's a theme echoed by authorities.
Chris Warrener, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Minneapolis, said the agency continues to investigate, and is reaching out in hopes of deterring terroristic activities. Among other things, the FBI has partnered with a youth group to form the Somali American Youth Action Committee with the goal of educating Somalis about the FBI and vice versa.
"I think we're off to a good start," Warrener said, adding that a regular dialogue is essential. "I feel in my gut that someday there will be a payoff if we keep at this and we do it right."
But Omar Jamal, first secretary for the Somali mission to the United Nations, feared the sentences would only embolden al-Shabab.
"All these kids are manipulated, brainwashed," he said. "The big guys, I think, will laugh at this and if anything else, it will encourage them to look for more victims, more kids, to go through the pipe."
———
Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Portland resident escapes war-torn Somalia, earns criminal justice degree from UMPI
At college commencement ceremonies across the country, it is not unusual to hear stories about students who have overcome tremendous obstacles in order to receive their degrees. Some have fled war-torn countries, worked several jobs to pay for school or attended college in an area where they didn’t really know anyone at all.
Abdigani Ashkir, who received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday, is all of those students in one. And the Portland resident did it in less than three years, taking between five and seven courses a semester while working and playing sports.
“I am very excited,” he said just before Saturday’s commencement exercises. “It has been difficult at times, but the people at UMPI have been so welcoming to me, and I have made a lot of great friends.”
Ashkir was one of 145 students who received degrees during the university’s 104th commencement exercises.
Ashkir was a young boy when his family moved to Kenya to escape Somalia. The family split up and Ashkir moved to Sweden, where he learned English. When he was 11, he was reunited with his mother and siblings, who had by that time moved to Maine. He attended Portland High School, graduating in 2008.
“My brother had decided to attend UMPI and told me about it and he liked it a lot, so I decided to attend as well,” he said. “When I first came to campus, I was a bit unsure, because I didn’t know too many people.
But I got involved in sports, and that helped me make a lot of friends. And there are a lot of students at UMPI who are from other countries. There is an international students club and so many different cultures. It really is very welcoming.”
Ashkir majored in criminal justice, filling his day with as many classes as possible. He continued to take courses through the summer and spring breaks, cramming the rest of his time with studying, athletics practices and games, and work. He never got lower than a B in any class.
Ashkir said he decided when he was in high school that he likely would do something to help Somalis who have migrated to the state.
“I am interested in law school,” he said. “I would like to help people who need assistance with the legal system.”
He said he also may pursue a career with the Department of Homeland Security.
For now, however, he is happy to have one college degree to his name.
“I am glad that I can go back to be with my family and get a good job and help support them,” he said. “That makes me very happy.”
Source: Bangor Daily News
Jen Lynds, Abdigani Ashkir (right) of Portland poses with a friend while another takes their photo after commencement exercises at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday. Buy Photo
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Abdigani Ashkir, who received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Maine at Presque Isle on Saturday, is all of those students in one. And the Portland resident did it in less than three years, taking between five and seven courses a semester while working and playing sports.
“I am very excited,” he said just before Saturday’s commencement exercises. “It has been difficult at times, but the people at UMPI have been so welcoming to me, and I have made a lot of great friends.”
Ashkir was one of 145 students who received degrees during the university’s 104th commencement exercises.
Ashkir was a young boy when his family moved to Kenya to escape Somalia. The family split up and Ashkir moved to Sweden, where he learned English. When he was 11, he was reunited with his mother and siblings, who had by that time moved to Maine. He attended Portland High School, graduating in 2008.
“My brother had decided to attend UMPI and told me about it and he liked it a lot, so I decided to attend as well,” he said. “When I first came to campus, I was a bit unsure, because I didn’t know too many people.
But I got involved in sports, and that helped me make a lot of friends. And there are a lot of students at UMPI who are from other countries. There is an international students club and so many different cultures. It really is very welcoming.”
Ashkir majored in criminal justice, filling his day with as many classes as possible. He continued to take courses through the summer and spring breaks, cramming the rest of his time with studying, athletics practices and games, and work. He never got lower than a B in any class.
Ashkir said he decided when he was in high school that he likely would do something to help Somalis who have migrated to the state.
“I am interested in law school,” he said. “I would like to help people who need assistance with the legal system.”
He said he also may pursue a career with the Department of Homeland Security.
For now, however, he is happy to have one college degree to his name.
“I am glad that I can go back to be with my family and get a good job and help support them,” he said. “That makes me very happy.”
Source: Bangor Daily News
Somalia fund aims to ‘rebuild a nation’
A UK private equity and commodity trading boutique is seeking to raise a $1bn fund to invest in Somalia and neighbouring states such as Kenya and Malawi.
London-based DVK said it was already negotiating deals to supply foods such as rice, flour and edible oils to Somalia, which is slowly emerging from two decades of turmoil, with part-payment in agricultural land that the fund can cultivate.
It is also looking at public-private partnerships to build roads, bridges, hospitals and schools, and opportunities to supply trucks as well as fund cargo aviation.
“It is about rebuilding an entire nation,” said Deepak Kuntawala, founder of DVK, which currently manages $340m in agriculture and real estate funds.
He said the Luxembourg-domiciled, sharia-compliant DVK Africa Development fund had already received $330m of pledges. “There are massive investment opportunities [in Somalia]. People are fighting to get in,” added Mr Kuntawala, who said that at an international aid conference in London earlier this month Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the Somali president, was besieged by 200 business people.
DVK is also creating a separate East Africa Core Development fund, aimed more at private investors, particularly from the east African diaspora.
Source: Financial Times
Somaliland marks 22 years of self-declared independence from Somalia
Region that broke away from Somalia in 1991 is still waiting for international recognition.
People in Somaliland are marking 22 years of self-declared independence from Somalia, but they are still waiting for the world to recognise their region as a country.
Celebrations were held in the capital, Hargeisa, on Saturday, with people holding rallies, waving flags from their vehicles and staging shows in various stadiums.
Somaliland, which is more tribally homogeneous than the rest of Somalia, has been striving for international recognition since it broke away in 991.
Ahmed Mahamoud Silany, the region’s president, told Al Jazeera on Friday that, despite Somalia's calls to be united with the region, Somaliland is determined to retain its independence.
"We would like to remain friends with Somalia, we would like to cooperate with them.
"But as far as our independence is concerned. It is not I who has decided, it's not my government who has decided.
"It the people of Somaliland, and the history of Somaliland, which has decided that Somaliland is going to be, and has always been a different country."
The UN and the African Union have both rejected calls to recognise Somaliland.
'Oasis of peace'
Having escaped decades of conflict in Somalia, Somaliland, which sits on the Gulf of Aden, employs its own security and police forces, justice system and currency.
It has a reputation for successfully maintaining law and order for its population of 3.5 million.
Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Hargeisa, said that while war has raged in Somalia for decades, Somaliland has managed to unite its people.“In the last few years Somaliland has become known as an oasis of peace in the horn of Africa," she said.
Because Somaliland is not recognised as a state, it is not eligible for international development loans.
"Without recognition, it cannot get the foreign investment it needs," Moshiri said, adding that aid is instead sent to Somalia.
Source: Al-Jazeera
The Health Toll of Immigration
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Esther Angeles, 41, with her daughter, Johanna Marisol Gomez, 7. Ms. Angeles has developed diabetes since coming to the United States and struggles to see that her daughter eats healthfully.
Becoming an American can be bad for your health.
A growing body of mortality research on immigrants has shown that the longer they live in this country, the worse their rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. And while their American-born children may have more money, they tend to live shorter lives than the parents.
The pattern goes against any notion that moving to America improves every aspect of life. It also demonstrates that at least in terms of health, worries about assimilation for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants are mistaken. In fact, it is happening all too quickly.
“There’s something about life in the United States that is not conducive to good health across generations,” said Robert A. Hummer, a social demographer at the University of Texas at Austin.
For Hispanics, now the nation’s largest immigrant group, the foreign-born live about three years longer than their American-born counterparts, several studies have found.
Why does life in the United States — despite its sophisticated health care system and high per capita wages — lead to worse health? New research is showing that the immigrant advantage wears off with the adoption of American behaviors — smoking, drinking, high-calorie diets and sedentary lifestyles.
Here in Brownsville, a worn border city studded with fast-food restaurants, immigrants say that happens slowly, almost imperceptibly. In America, foods like ham and bread that are not supposed to be sweet are. And children lose their taste for traditional Mexican foods like cactus and beans.
For the recently arrived, the quantity and accessibility of food speaks to the boundless promise of the United States. Esther Angeles remembers being amazed at the size of hamburgers — as big as dinner plates — when she first came to the United States from Mexico 15 years ago.
“I thought, this is really a country of opportunity,” she said. “Look at the size of the food!”
Fast-food fare not only tasted good, but was also a sign of success, a family treat that new earnings put in reach.
“The crispiness was delicious,” said Juan Muniz, 62, recalling his first visit to Church’s Chicken with his family in the late 1970s. “I was proud and excited to eat out. I’d tell them: ‘Let’s go eat. We can afford it now.’ ”
For others, supersize deals appealed.
“You work so hard, you want to use your money in a smart way,” said Aris Ramirez, a community health worker in Brownsville, explaining the thinking. “So when they hear ‘twice the fries for an extra 49 cents,’ people think, ‘That’s economical.’ ”
For Ms. Angeles, the excitement of big food eventually wore off, and the frantic pace of the modern American workplace took over. She found herself eating hamburgers more because they were convenient and she was busy in her 78-hour-a-week job as a housekeeper. What is more, she lost control over her daughter’s diet because, as a single mother, she was rarely with her at mealtimes.
Robert O. Valdez, a professor of family and community medicine and economics at the University of New Mexico, said, “All the things we tell people to do from a clinical perspective today — a lot of fiber and less meat — were exactly the lifestyle habits that immigrants were normally keeping.”
As early as the 1970s, researchers found that immigrants lived several years longer than American-born whites even though they tended to have less education and lower income, factors usually associated with worse health. That gap has grown since 1980. Less clear, however, was what happened to immigrants and their American-born offspring after a lifetime in the United States.
Evidence is mounting that the second generation does worse. Elizabeth Arias, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics, has made exploratory estimates based on data from 2007 to 2009, which show that Hispanic immigrants live 2.9 years longer than American-born Hispanics. The finding, which has not yet been published, is similar to those in earlier studies.
Still, the data does not break down by generation. Ms. Arias cautioned that subsequent generations — for example, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — may indeed improve as they rise in socioeconomic status, which in the United States is strongly correlated with better health.
Other research suggests that some of the difference has to do with variation among American-born Hispanics, most of whom still do better than the rest of the American population. Puerto Ricans born in the continental United States, for example, have some of the shortest life spans and even do worse than whites born in the United States, according to research by Professor Hummer, dragging down the numbers for American-born Hispanics. But Mexican immigrant men live about two years longer than Mexican-American men, according to the estimates by Ms. Arias.
Why is a harder question to answer, researchers say. Some point to smoking. Andrew Fenelon, a researcher at Brown University, found in 2011 that half of the three-year life expectancy advantage that Hispanic immigrants had over American-born Hispanics was because they smoked less. The children of immigrants adopt health behaviors typical of Americans in their socioeconomic group. For second-generation Hispanics, the group tends to be lower income, with higher rates of smoking and drinking.
Other researchers say culture contributes. Foreign-born Hispanics are less likely than American-born Hispanics to be raising children alone, and more likely to be part of large kinship networks that insulate them from harsh American economic realities that can lead to poor health.
“I’d love to have my wife at home taking care of the kids and making sure they eat right, but I can’t afford to,” said Camilo Garza, a 34-year-old plumber and maintenance worker whose grandfather immigrated from Mexico. “It costs money to live in the land of the free. It means both parents have to work.”
As a result, his family eats out almost every night, leaving his dining table abandoned.
“It’s a decoration,” said Mr. Garza, who is overweight and a smoker. “It’s a place where we set groceries before sticking them in the refrigerator.”
The lifestyle takes its toll. The county in which Brownsville is situated, Cameron, has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the country. The numbers are made worse by a lack of physical activity, including walking. Immigrants said they felt so conspicuous during early attempts to walk along the shoulder of the roads that they feared people would suspect they were here illegally. Ms. Angeles recalled that strolling to a dollar store provoked so many stares that she felt like “a bean in rice.”
“In Mexico, we ate healthily and didn’t even know it,” said Ms. Angeles, who has since developed diabetes. “Here, we know the food we eat is bad for us. We feel guilty. But we eat it anyway.”
Still, immigrants have better health outcomes than the American-born. A 2006 analysis by Gopal K. Singh, a researcher at the Department of Health and Human Services, and Robert A. Hiatt, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco, found that immigrants had at least a 20 percent lower overall cancer mortality rate than their American-born counterparts.
Mortality rates from heart disease were about 16 percent lower, for kidney disease 18 percent lower, and for liver cirrhosis 24 percent lower.
“When my daughter was born, my doctor told me that if I wanted to see her 15th birthday I needed to lose the weight,” said Gerry Ortiz, 37, a first-generation Mexican-American in Brownsville. He managed to lose 75 pounds, motivated in part by his grandfather, a farmer in rural Mexico who at 93 still rides his bicycle every day. He stares down at the family from a black-and-white photograph hanging in Mr. Ortiz’s living room. Four of the family’s six siblings are obese and have diabetes.
And health habits in Mexico are starting to look a lot like those in the United States. Researchers are beginning to wonder how long better numbers for the foreign-born will last. Up to 40 percent of the diet of rural Mexicans now comes from packaged foods, according to Professor Valdez.
“We are seeing a huge shift away from traditional diets,” he said. “People are no longer growing what they are eating. They are increasingly going to the market, and that market is changing.”
Joseph B. McCormick, the regional dean of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Brownsville, said, “The U.S. culture has crept across the border.”
Perhaps more immediate is the declining state of Hispanic health in the United States. Nearly twice as many Hispanic adults as non-Hispanic white adults have diabetes that has been diagnosed, a rate that researchers now say may have a genetic component, particularly in those whose ancestry is Amerindian from Central and South America, Dr. McCormick said.
Hispanic adults are also 14 percent more likely to be obese, according to 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate is even higher for Hispanic children, who are 51 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white children.
“We have a time bomb that’s going to go off,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. “Obesity rates are increasing. Diabetes is exploding. The cultural protection Hispanics had is being eroded.”
But at least for now, the older generation is still enjoying its advantage. In the De Angeles snack bar, a favorite meeting place for elderly Brownsvillians, one regular who is 101 still walks across the bridge to Mexico. Maria De La Cruz, a 73-year-old who immigrated to the United States in her 40s, says her secret is raw garlic, cooked cactus and exercise, all habits she acquired from her father, a tailor who died at 98.
“He had very pretty legs, like mine,” she said, laughing. “You want to see them?”
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