Lawmakers are preparing to consider a bill that would let communities choose to allow non-U.S. citizens to vote in municipal elections.
Proponents argue that letting non-citizen immigrants vote on local issues would include them in the community, and provide incentive for them to pursue citizenship.
Critics say voting is a right that should be reserved for U.S. citizens, and some suggest that newcomers to the country don't necessarily have the language skills or the knowledge of issues needed to make an informed vote.
The bill, LD 1195, was sponsored by Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, and co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Bolduc, D-Auburn. It was referred this week to the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Alfond said he spoke to a number of households in his one-time role as state director of the League of Young Voters. He would talk to residents about issues in upcoming local elections, Alfond said, and then learn that they couldn't vote because they weren't U.S. citizens.
"I want to look at this," said Alfond. "Is there a way to give people in our communities a bigger way to be involved?"
There's a variety of legal Maine residents who are not U.S. citizens, said Alfond, including doctors, refugees, students, hockey players and more.
Some might live here legally for decades without becoming citizens, meaning they can't vote on local issues that affect them, he said. And a citizen might move to the state for a year, take part in an election and then move away.
Alfond said that didn't seem right.
Allowing that part of the community to vote would be inclusive, said Alfond, and would give more people a voice. It also would give them an incentive to become citizens, so they could vote in state and national elections as well, he said.
Specifics on the bill would need to be hammered out in the committee, but Alfond said he envisions it applying to immigrants who are here legally. And it would be community governing bodies -- town or city councils -- that could vote to allow the non-citizens to vote in local elections.
Ron Hayduk, professor of political science at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and author of the book "Democracy for All," said immigrants who are not citizens are allowed to vote in a number of communities.
Chicago, for instance, allows them to vote in school elections, and six towns in Maryland allow them to vote in all local elections. They can vote in the Massachusetts towns of Cambridge, Amherst and Newton, said Hayduk, and proposals have been made to do the same in Chelsea and Somerville, and likely will resurface in Boston after a 2007 defeat.
The basic argument for allowing non-citizens to vote is that groups excluded from voting are more likely to be discriminated against, said Hayduk.
"It thwarts the power, the potential and promise of democracy," said Hayduk. "We're all served by having a government that's more representative, more accountable and more responsive to all its members."
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the mechanics of allowing non-citizens to vote would be pretty simple. They couldn't be included in the electronic, federally funded voter rolls, so a separate paper list of voters would have to be kept, said Dunlap.
Dunlap said he doesn't think Alfond's proposal does any harm.
"Whenever you get more people to participate, you add legitimacy to that process," said Dunlap. "The voice of the public, I think, is extraordinarily important."
Hans Von Spakovsky, a legal scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he sees several problems with allowing non-citizens to vote.
If local, state and federal elections are generally printed on the same ballot, they would have to be separated to allow non-citizens to vote, he said.
And getting a voter registration card could be a way to thwart federal labor laws, he said.
"At the core of it, I think it's a bad idea, because people who are here as residents are not people who have assimilated and become part of the American culture and the American society," said Von Spakovsky, whose parents were both immigrants. "They have made a decision not to become U.S. citizens. That means they have not entered the U.S. social compact."
Reaction was mixed in Portland's immigrant community.
Mohamud Barre, president of the Somali Culture and Development Association of Maine, said he's concerned that many immigrants aren't informed enough to vote.
"They don't know what's going on, they don't speak English," said Barre, who is originally from Somalia.
When immigrants get the right to vote through citizenship, said Barre, they've spent time learning about the country and working on language skills. That allows them to become informed, he said.
"They have at least learned what's going on -- they can make a decision," he said.
Sam Udomsay, who came to this country from Thailand when he was only 4 and got his citizenship about 10 years ago, said he's not sure many immigrants would have an idea of how the process works.
"I guess it would be a great idea to allow them to vote, if they had more knowledge of what was going on," said Udomsay, 32, of Westbrook.
Udomsay said that immigrant communities tend to have leaders. He said he would be concerned that if non-citizens didn't understand the issues, they might just vote the way their leaders instructed them.
Udomsay also said that people should earn the right to vote.
Source: Morning Sentinel
Friday, March 27, 2009
Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs to partake in international ‘State of Sovereignty” conference in UK
The Somaliland Foreign minister, Mr Abdillahi Mohamed Duale, flew out of Hargeysa Egal International airport on Wednesday morning to take part in a three-day international conference on the “State of Sovereignty” organized by the International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) of Durham University. The conference is celebrating the 20th anniversary of boundary studies at IBRU, which is taking place from 1-3 April 2009 in Durham, UK.
Speaking to the media in the VIP lounge of Egal International airport, the foreign minister told local reporters that Somaliland has been invited to address the three-day celebration anniversary of the “State of Sovereignty” conference which is being held at the historical city of Durham in the UK.
“We are extremely pleased and honoured to be attending the 20th anniversary of IBRU’s ‘State of Sovereignty’ conference and I will be presenting a paper outlining the historical basis of Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of its independence and sovereignty. As well as, discussing Somaliland’s road to peace, reconciliation and building the country’s democratic aspirations to becoming a multi-party society,” said Somaliland’s foreign minister, Mr Abdillahi M Duale.
The minister was asked by local reporters, “What he will achieve by attending to this conference in Durham, and if it was necessary to waste, tens and thousands of dollars, on a conference, when the country is cash strapped and suffering from a harsh drought?”
The minister replied, “Firstly, the conference organisers are paying for all the expenses right up to our return back to Hargeysa. And secondly, Over 30 governments, 11 foreign of affairs’ departments and their agencies, including the US State Department, UK Foreign Office and 92 world acclaimed academic institutions and international organizations, the likes of UN, EU and the European court of Justice will all be participating in the conference.
On the contrary, this is indeed a window of opportunity for Somaliland to get its message across to so many countries and international organisations in one single presentation. Somaliland will make new friends who will gladly support our cause. Surely this is what we have been working for,” said Duale.
Travelling with the foreign minister is the Executive Secretary of Somaliland’s ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusuf M Ahmed.
Source: SomalilandPress
Speaking to the media in the VIP lounge of Egal International airport, the foreign minister told local reporters that Somaliland has been invited to address the three-day celebration anniversary of the “State of Sovereignty” conference which is being held at the historical city of Durham in the UK.
“We are extremely pleased and honoured to be attending the 20th anniversary of IBRU’s ‘State of Sovereignty’ conference and I will be presenting a paper outlining the historical basis of Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of its independence and sovereignty. As well as, discussing Somaliland’s road to peace, reconciliation and building the country’s democratic aspirations to becoming a multi-party society,” said Somaliland’s foreign minister, Mr Abdillahi M Duale.
The minister was asked by local reporters, “What he will achieve by attending to this conference in Durham, and if it was necessary to waste, tens and thousands of dollars, on a conference, when the country is cash strapped and suffering from a harsh drought?”
The minister replied, “Firstly, the conference organisers are paying for all the expenses right up to our return back to Hargeysa. And secondly, Over 30 governments, 11 foreign of affairs’ departments and their agencies, including the US State Department, UK Foreign Office and 92 world acclaimed academic institutions and international organizations, the likes of UN, EU and the European court of Justice will all be participating in the conference.
On the contrary, this is indeed a window of opportunity for Somaliland to get its message across to so many countries and international organisations in one single presentation. Somaliland will make new friends who will gladly support our cause. Surely this is what we have been working for,” said Duale.
Travelling with the foreign minister is the Executive Secretary of Somaliland’s ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusuf M Ahmed.
Source: SomalilandPress
Thousands need aid to return home from Somaliland
At least 15,000 Somalis, who had fled to the self-declared republic of Somaliland to escape violence in Mogadishu, want to return home following the recent change of government but lack the means to do so, aid workers said.
Moreover, the circumstances of the estimated 2,500 families are complicated by the fact that Somaliland authorities consider them refugees while aid agencies consider them internally displaced.
"The families want to return due to the difficult conditions they live in here," Zainab Mohamud, head of the Gashan Women’s Development Organisation, who works with the displaced families, told IRIN on 25 March.
She said the families shared camps with locally displaced people and "receive very little help. The main problem is the lack of clarity over their status; are they refugees or displaced?"
She said the families had received some food aid from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) but little else.
Mukhtar Mohamed, a father of six who fled Mogadishu and now lives in Mohamed Moge district of Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, said: "I have been in Somaliland for the last nine months and have received very little help. We have safety but nothing else."
Mohamed Moge district is one of the most populated IDP settlements in Hargeisa.
Since the situation in Mogadishu seems to be improving, Mohamed said, he would like to return home, "but I lack the means to do so".
According to Mohamud, in the past two months more than 15,000 Somalis displaced in Somaliland and in neighbouring Djibouti had returned home to Somalia through Somaliland.
She said the families in Hargeisa should be assisted to return home, "instead of living in these difficult conditions and in limbo”.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Somaliland is hosting 80,000 IDPs.
Roberta Russo, associate public information officer for UNHCR Somalia, said: "No IDP has approached UNHCR to ask for assistance to return to south-central Somalia yet."
She said that since the beginning of 2009, at least 52,000 people had returned to Mogadishu. However, she cautioned that the "returnees are mainly heads of families coming to assess the situation, leaving the rest of their families in IDP camps".
Russo said the humanitarian community "is seriously concerned about the spontaneous returns to Mogadishu as the security situation is still volatile and basic services to help the returnees are not in place".
A task-force, which includes UNHCR, has been set up to assess as soon as possible the situation in the capital "and make recommendations on how best to assist people who are spontaneously returning as well as people who are still in the camps", she added.
Source: IRIN
Moreover, the circumstances of the estimated 2,500 families are complicated by the fact that Somaliland authorities consider them refugees while aid agencies consider them internally displaced.
"The families want to return due to the difficult conditions they live in here," Zainab Mohamud, head of the Gashan Women’s Development Organisation, who works with the displaced families, told IRIN on 25 March.
She said the families shared camps with locally displaced people and "receive very little help. The main problem is the lack of clarity over their status; are they refugees or displaced?"
She said the families had received some food aid from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) but little else.
Mukhtar Mohamed, a father of six who fled Mogadishu and now lives in Mohamed Moge district of Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, said: "I have been in Somaliland for the last nine months and have received very little help. We have safety but nothing else."
Mohamed Moge district is one of the most populated IDP settlements in Hargeisa.
Since the situation in Mogadishu seems to be improving, Mohamed said, he would like to return home, "but I lack the means to do so".
According to Mohamud, in the past two months more than 15,000 Somalis displaced in Somaliland and in neighbouring Djibouti had returned home to Somalia through Somaliland.
She said the families in Hargeisa should be assisted to return home, "instead of living in these difficult conditions and in limbo”.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Somaliland is hosting 80,000 IDPs.
Roberta Russo, associate public information officer for UNHCR Somalia, said: "No IDP has approached UNHCR to ask for assistance to return to south-central Somalia yet."
She said that since the beginning of 2009, at least 52,000 people had returned to Mogadishu. However, she cautioned that the "returnees are mainly heads of families coming to assess the situation, leaving the rest of their families in IDP camps".
Russo said the humanitarian community "is seriously concerned about the spontaneous returns to Mogadishu as the security situation is still volatile and basic services to help the returnees are not in place".
A task-force, which includes UNHCR, has been set up to assess as soon as possible the situation in the capital "and make recommendations on how best to assist people who are spontaneously returning as well as people who are still in the camps", she added.
Source: IRIN
Somali pirates hijack 2 tankers in 24 hours
Pirates armed with machine guns pursued and captured a Norwegian chemical tanker off the coast of Somalia on Thursday, the owners said, less than 24 hours after a smaller Greek-owned vessel was seized in the same area.
The U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, confirmed both hijackings and said they happened in the same area but separate from the gulf, one of the world's busiest — and now most treacherous — sea lanes.
The 23,000-ton Norwegian-owned Bow Asir was seized 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the Somali coast on Thursday morning, and the 9,000-ton Greek-owned Nipayia, with 19 crew members, was attacked about 450 miles (720 kilometers) off Somalia on Wednesday afternoon, the European Union's military spokesman said.
Norway's shipowner's association said the Bow Asir had a crew of 27 with a Russian captain, but the 5th Fleet said there were 23 crew on board. Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said the Norwegian ship was Bahamian-flagged, but he did not know its cargo. U.S. Cmdr. Jane Campbell confirmed the hijacking on Wednesday of the Nipayia.
Both vessels are chemical tankers but their cargoes were not immediately made public
A Nairobi-based diplomat said the Nipayia had 18 Filipinos on board and a Russian captain. He said the ship is managed by Athens-based Lotus Shipping, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The owner of the Norwegian Bow Asir, Salhus Shipping AS, said it received a security alert message from the Bow Asir at 0729GMT saying the ship was being chased by two small boats with suspected pirates on board.
At 0745GMT, the captain reported that the pirates had boarded the vessel, and three hours later, Salhus Shipping received an e-mail from the ship confirming that 16 to 18 pirates carrying machine guns had gained control, managing director Per H. Hansen said in a statement.
"We have no reports of any injuries," he said. "We are doing our utmost to ensure the safety of the crew, and have established communication lines with naval forces, insurance companies, flag state and charterer."
NATO announced Thursday that its anti-piracy flotilla of five ships was resuming patrols off the Horn of Africa, joining an international squadron already operating in the region.
The flotilla will join at least 20 warships from the EU, the U.S., China, Russia and other navies are patrolling the region in an effort to prevent pirate attacks on the sea lanes around the Horn of Africa.
An earlier NATO mission — sent to the region in October in response to appeals by the United Nations — was replaced in December by an EU flotilla. Its main task is to escort cargo ships chartered by the U.N. World Food Program carrying humanitarian aid to Somalia, which has been without a functioning government since 1991.
Naval officers say controlling an ocean area the size of Western Europe is difficult, even with the help of ships' helicopters and maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Pirate attacks off the Somali coastline hit unprecedented levels in 2008. The pirates made 111 attacks and seized 42 vessels, mostly in the Gulf of Aden last year. Seven have been seized so far this year, although there were roughly 10 times as many attacks in January and February 2009 as there was over the same period last year. There have been almost daily attacks in March, including an incident in which a Korean sailor received a bullet wound in the head.
Associated Press correspondents Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, and Katarina Kratovac in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
Source: The Associated Press
The U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, confirmed both hijackings and said they happened in the same area but separate from the gulf, one of the world's busiest — and now most treacherous — sea lanes.
The 23,000-ton Norwegian-owned Bow Asir was seized 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the Somali coast on Thursday morning, and the 9,000-ton Greek-owned Nipayia, with 19 crew members, was attacked about 450 miles (720 kilometers) off Somalia on Wednesday afternoon, the European Union's military spokesman said.
Norway's shipowner's association said the Bow Asir had a crew of 27 with a Russian captain, but the 5th Fleet said there were 23 crew on board. Fleet spokesman Lt. Nate Christensen said the Norwegian ship was Bahamian-flagged, but he did not know its cargo. U.S. Cmdr. Jane Campbell confirmed the hijacking on Wednesday of the Nipayia.
Both vessels are chemical tankers but their cargoes were not immediately made public
A Nairobi-based diplomat said the Nipayia had 18 Filipinos on board and a Russian captain. He said the ship is managed by Athens-based Lotus Shipping, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The owner of the Norwegian Bow Asir, Salhus Shipping AS, said it received a security alert message from the Bow Asir at 0729GMT saying the ship was being chased by two small boats with suspected pirates on board.
At 0745GMT, the captain reported that the pirates had boarded the vessel, and three hours later, Salhus Shipping received an e-mail from the ship confirming that 16 to 18 pirates carrying machine guns had gained control, managing director Per H. Hansen said in a statement.
"We have no reports of any injuries," he said. "We are doing our utmost to ensure the safety of the crew, and have established communication lines with naval forces, insurance companies, flag state and charterer."
NATO announced Thursday that its anti-piracy flotilla of five ships was resuming patrols off the Horn of Africa, joining an international squadron already operating in the region.
The flotilla will join at least 20 warships from the EU, the U.S., China, Russia and other navies are patrolling the region in an effort to prevent pirate attacks on the sea lanes around the Horn of Africa.
An earlier NATO mission — sent to the region in October in response to appeals by the United Nations — was replaced in December by an EU flotilla. Its main task is to escort cargo ships chartered by the U.N. World Food Program carrying humanitarian aid to Somalia, which has been without a functioning government since 1991.
Naval officers say controlling an ocean area the size of Western Europe is difficult, even with the help of ships' helicopters and maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Pirate attacks off the Somali coastline hit unprecedented levels in 2008. The pirates made 111 attacks and seized 42 vessels, mostly in the Gulf of Aden last year. Seven have been seized so far this year, although there were roughly 10 times as many attacks in January and February 2009 as there was over the same period last year. There have been almost daily attacks in March, including an incident in which a Korean sailor received a bullet wound in the head.
Associated Press correspondents Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, and Katarina Kratovac in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
Source: The Associated Press
Somali militia warned of revenge attacks
The abduction of five Kenyans in Somalia could have been a revenge mission by the Al Shabaab militia.
It emerged that the militia had warned Kenya over what it termed harassment of Somalis at the border.
In a letter, whose copy was faxed to The Standard, they said the attacks, which were to begin yesterday, would target military installations, police stations, Government vehicles and other centres.
Written in Somali, the letter said: "We will assault your country with hand grenades, automatic artilleries, kidnapping and if need be, suicide bombing, which will be targeting sensitive Government bases.
The letter, which was not signed, was dropped off as leaflets on the police patrol line on the border on March 23. A top Somali administrator claimed Kenya continuously mistreated Somalis crossing the border.
And the fate of the abductees will be decided after Al Shabaab’s intelligence agency completes findings over the presence of the Kenyans in Somalia.
Ahmed Mohammed Yussuf Burkus, who is the Bulla Hawa DC said Kenyan security personnel on the porous border "daily mistreated and shamelessly extorted Somali nationals coming to Kenya for inter-border business."
Sneaked in
He cited an incident in which Mandera Police officers beat a woman trader after she sneaked in to sell commodities on the Kenyan side.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that the militia had written to Mandera East DC on March 23 after the attack on the businesswoman.
And the high-powered Kenyan security team, on a mission to negotiate the release of the abductees, has been denied entry into Somalia.
The security team led by Mandera East acting DC Benedict Nduva and area OCPD Odhiambo Akello met with Burkus at Mandera custom point but returned dejected.
Clan elders
And Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali said they had enlisted two local clan elders to lead in the negotiations to release the five Kenyans.
"Two prominent local emissaries are leading the talks as part of efforts to secure the release of the abducted Kenyans," he said.
However other sources said local Al Shabaab agents demanded that Kenya negotiates with their bosses in Mogadishu.
Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua claimed Kenya is negotiating with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government for the release of the five.
Parliament’s Committee on Defence also denounced the kidnap and demanded their unconditional release. Wajir West MP Aden Keynan, who chairs the committee, said there was no confirmation over which group was holding the Kenyans.
"We appeal to the abductors to release these innocent people unconditionally," he said adding Kenya should resist ransom demands.
Those abducted were identified as Wajir South DEO Moses Mwangi, Quality Assurance Officer Charles Nyakundi and North Eastern Provincial Quality Assurance Boss Onchiri Onyancha, a teacher Mohammed Madey and their driver, Abdikadir Mohammed.
NEP Director of Education Pascal Makiti said the victims had gone for a walk after officiating provincial school games. The incident comes barely a fortnight after Kenya was granted permission to prosecute eight Somali pirates.
Burkus said: "We don’t believe these are innocent people and that is why we have to take our time to investigate them thoroughly to establish their motive on our soil. It is not common for Kenyans particularly non-Somalis to visit our war weary town".
Source: The Standard
It emerged that the militia had warned Kenya over what it termed harassment of Somalis at the border.
In a letter, whose copy was faxed to The Standard, they said the attacks, which were to begin yesterday, would target military installations, police stations, Government vehicles and other centres.
Written in Somali, the letter said: "We will assault your country with hand grenades, automatic artilleries, kidnapping and if need be, suicide bombing, which will be targeting sensitive Government bases.
The letter, which was not signed, was dropped off as leaflets on the police patrol line on the border on March 23. A top Somali administrator claimed Kenya continuously mistreated Somalis crossing the border.
And the fate of the abductees will be decided after Al Shabaab’s intelligence agency completes findings over the presence of the Kenyans in Somalia.
Ahmed Mohammed Yussuf Burkus, who is the Bulla Hawa DC said Kenyan security personnel on the porous border "daily mistreated and shamelessly extorted Somali nationals coming to Kenya for inter-border business."
Sneaked in
He cited an incident in which Mandera Police officers beat a woman trader after she sneaked in to sell commodities on the Kenyan side.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that the militia had written to Mandera East DC on March 23 after the attack on the businesswoman.
And the high-powered Kenyan security team, on a mission to negotiate the release of the abductees, has been denied entry into Somalia.
The security team led by Mandera East acting DC Benedict Nduva and area OCPD Odhiambo Akello met with Burkus at Mandera custom point but returned dejected.
Clan elders
And Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali said they had enlisted two local clan elders to lead in the negotiations to release the five Kenyans.
"Two prominent local emissaries are leading the talks as part of efforts to secure the release of the abducted Kenyans," he said.
However other sources said local Al Shabaab agents demanded that Kenya negotiates with their bosses in Mogadishu.
Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua claimed Kenya is negotiating with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government for the release of the five.
Parliament’s Committee on Defence also denounced the kidnap and demanded their unconditional release. Wajir West MP Aden Keynan, who chairs the committee, said there was no confirmation over which group was holding the Kenyans.
"We appeal to the abductors to release these innocent people unconditionally," he said adding Kenya should resist ransom demands.
Those abducted were identified as Wajir South DEO Moses Mwangi, Quality Assurance Officer Charles Nyakundi and North Eastern Provincial Quality Assurance Boss Onchiri Onyancha, a teacher Mohammed Madey and their driver, Abdikadir Mohammed.
NEP Director of Education Pascal Makiti said the victims had gone for a walk after officiating provincial school games. The incident comes barely a fortnight after Kenya was granted permission to prosecute eight Somali pirates.
Burkus said: "We don’t believe these are innocent people and that is why we have to take our time to investigate them thoroughly to establish their motive on our soil. It is not common for Kenyans particularly non-Somalis to visit our war weary town".
Source: The Standard
Somali refugees in Kenya face humanitarian emergency
* Somali refugees in Kenya face humanitarian disaster
* Charity expects 100,000 new arrivals this year
* Fears of cholera, women and children most at risk
Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees holed up in northern Kenya face a "humanitarian emergency" this year as disease starts spreading through overcrowded camps, Oxfam warned on Friday.
More than 250,000 people live in Dadaab's three sprawling camps and Oxfam said 100,000 more are expected to arrive before the end of the year as al Shabaab, a pro-al Qaeda Islamist insurgent group, battles Somalia's fragile new government.
The aid agency said an assessment of the camp had uncovered "a serious public health crisis caused by a lack of basic services, severe overcrowding and a chronic lack of funding".
It said illnesses including cholera would run rampant through the settlements unless urgent steps were taken.
"Conditions in Dadaab are dire and need immediate attention. People are not getting the aid they are entitled to," said Philippa Crosland-Taylor, head of Oxfam GB in Kenya.
Dadaab's refugees live in shacks made from branches and plastic sheeting in one of the world's largest refugee camps.
Oxfam said half the people there have inadequate access to water and sanitation. More than 20 recent cases of cholera have been confirmed at the camps in arid eastern Kenya.
Aid workers say the humanitarian situation in Somalia is the worst in the world. Fighting has killed more than 17,000 civilians since the start of 2007, one million more have been driven from their homes and about a third of the population -- more than 3 million people -- need emergency food aid.
Oxfam said more land needed to be set aside for Somali refugees who fled over the border into Kenya, and more money devoted to improve their living conditions once they got there.
Kenya closed its long, porous desert border with the failed Horn of Africa state after the U.S.-backed defeat of an Islamic Courts group in Jan. 2007.
But Oxfam said the closure had failed to stem a rising tide of people trying to escape the bloodshed as al Shabaab tightens its grip on large swathes of central and southern Somalia.
The move has actually increased health risks, the charity warned, because frontier clinics were shut down and now refugees no longer get any check-up before arriving at the camps.
"The Kenyan government must address this humanitarian crisis, rather than ignoring it," Crosland-Taylor said.
Al Shabaab is the main stumbling block for Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is trying to restore peace and stability after 18 years of civil war. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Source: Reuters
* Charity expects 100,000 new arrivals this year
* Fears of cholera, women and children most at risk
Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees holed up in northern Kenya face a "humanitarian emergency" this year as disease starts spreading through overcrowded camps, Oxfam warned on Friday.
More than 250,000 people live in Dadaab's three sprawling camps and Oxfam said 100,000 more are expected to arrive before the end of the year as al Shabaab, a pro-al Qaeda Islamist insurgent group, battles Somalia's fragile new government.
The aid agency said an assessment of the camp had uncovered "a serious public health crisis caused by a lack of basic services, severe overcrowding and a chronic lack of funding".
It said illnesses including cholera would run rampant through the settlements unless urgent steps were taken.
"Conditions in Dadaab are dire and need immediate attention. People are not getting the aid they are entitled to," said Philippa Crosland-Taylor, head of Oxfam GB in Kenya.
Dadaab's refugees live in shacks made from branches and plastic sheeting in one of the world's largest refugee camps.
Oxfam said half the people there have inadequate access to water and sanitation. More than 20 recent cases of cholera have been confirmed at the camps in arid eastern Kenya.
Aid workers say the humanitarian situation in Somalia is the worst in the world. Fighting has killed more than 17,000 civilians since the start of 2007, one million more have been driven from their homes and about a third of the population -- more than 3 million people -- need emergency food aid.
Oxfam said more land needed to be set aside for Somali refugees who fled over the border into Kenya, and more money devoted to improve their living conditions once they got there.
Kenya closed its long, porous desert border with the failed Horn of Africa state after the U.S.-backed defeat of an Islamic Courts group in Jan. 2007.
But Oxfam said the closure had failed to stem a rising tide of people trying to escape the bloodshed as al Shabaab tightens its grip on large swathes of central and southern Somalia.
The move has actually increased health risks, the charity warned, because frontier clinics were shut down and now refugees no longer get any check-up before arriving at the camps.
"The Kenyan government must address this humanitarian crisis, rather than ignoring it," Crosland-Taylor said.
Al Shabaab is the main stumbling block for Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is trying to restore peace and stability after 18 years of civil war. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Source: Reuters
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Blast injures Somali minister
Somalia's interior minister has been wounded after a roadside bomb exploded next to his car in the capital Mogadishu, officials and witnesses say.
Abdel-Qader Ali Omar's bodyguard and two passers-by were killed in the blast in the Bakara neighbourhood on Thursday, witnesses said.
"He was targeted in a roadside bomb explosion. He sustained injuries but they are not too serious. One of his bodyguards died," a government official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
"We heard a big explosion, which seemed to be a landmine targeting the car," Abdirahman Ali, a witness, said. "I was standing opposite. Bodyguards opened fire."
Omar spoke to the media shortly after being treated for shoulder injuries at a Mogadishu hospital.
"I have no problem and I escaped the attack," he said.
"I'm not going to say who is behind the attack just now but we all know each other in the capital Mogadishu and we will take steps to enforce peace."
Tentative hopes
Somalia's transitional government has little control in the war-torn country, which is dominated by rival armed Islamic groups and has been without an effective central government since 1991.
However, there are tentative hopes for some sort of stability under the new government under Sharif Ahmed, the president and a former leader of the Islamic courts union, which ruled much of the country in late 2006.
"Because the war has been fought for so long, the suffering is so long that people are crying for peace," Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, said.
"The government has to strengthen its base and simultaneously reach out to all Somalis."
Omar led a Somali group fighting Ethiopian troops, who helped push the Islamic courts out of Somalia in 2006, before was appointed to the interior ministry following a deal to bring the armed opposition into government.
Al-Shabaab, a hardline group which controls severals towns, including the government's former seat in Baidoa, launches frequent attacks on government targets and African Union peacekeepers.
Source: Al-Jazeera
Abdel-Qader Ali Omar's bodyguard and two passers-by were killed in the blast in the Bakara neighbourhood on Thursday, witnesses said.
"He was targeted in a roadside bomb explosion. He sustained injuries but they are not too serious. One of his bodyguards died," a government official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
"We heard a big explosion, which seemed to be a landmine targeting the car," Abdirahman Ali, a witness, said. "I was standing opposite. Bodyguards opened fire."
Omar spoke to the media shortly after being treated for shoulder injuries at a Mogadishu hospital.
"I have no problem and I escaped the attack," he said.
"I'm not going to say who is behind the attack just now but we all know each other in the capital Mogadishu and we will take steps to enforce peace."
Tentative hopes
Somalia's transitional government has little control in the war-torn country, which is dominated by rival armed Islamic groups and has been without an effective central government since 1991.
However, there are tentative hopes for some sort of stability under the new government under Sharif Ahmed, the president and a former leader of the Islamic courts union, which ruled much of the country in late 2006.
"Because the war has been fought for so long, the suffering is so long that people are crying for peace," Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, said.
"The government has to strengthen its base and simultaneously reach out to all Somalis."
Omar led a Somali group fighting Ethiopian troops, who helped push the Islamic courts out of Somalia in 2006, before was appointed to the interior ministry following a deal to bring the armed opposition into government.
Al-Shabaab, a hardline group which controls severals towns, including the government's former seat in Baidoa, launches frequent attacks on government targets and African Union peacekeepers.
Source: Al-Jazeera
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