MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali leaders are debating a new constitution that protects the right to have an abortion to save the life of the mother, and an international law group says the draft guarantees more fundamental rights than the US Constitution.
That last one is a shocker.
That is one reason some women are celebrating the document, and hard-line conservatives are protesting some of its more liberal promises.
But some of the rights introduced, such as the right to medical care or clean, potable water, will be hard for the government to guarantee in a country where basic needs like food are not always met. Other elements, such as banning the circumcision of girls, a practice the UN says more than 95 percent of women have undergone, will take years to banish.
Somali leaders — 825 of them — began a nine-day meeting Wednesday to examine, debate, and vote on the constitution, a document that has been years in the making. A vote by the group, known as the National Constituent Assembly, will probably be held late next week and is a key step in a flurry of political activity in Somalia over the next month.
The UN mandate for Somalia’s current government expires Aug. 20, and Somali leaders are to vote on the constitution, vote in a new 275-member parliament, and then vote on a president all before then. If the assembly votes down the constitution, the new parliament will have to debate it and then vote on it.
Somali Prime Minister Abdiwali Mohamed Ali called the gathering of Somali leaders a milestone and said the new constitution ‘‘is a symbol of justice and equality for our people and country.’’ He said that the document is meant to be only temporary. The eventual goal is to pass a constitution by countrywide vote, but the security, money, and organization needed to hold a nationwide vote are still years away.
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Related: Somali assembly backs constitution
Somalia has new Parliament but no presidential vote
Somalia elects a new president
Twins sentenced in terrorism scheme
Yes, abort the black babies or they will become terrorists.
And I'm not trying to be funny:
"Somali comedian is killed in attack" Associated Press, August 03, 2012
MOGADISHU, Somalia — On one of his recent radio shows, a popular Somali comedian ridiculed commanders of a ruthless Islamist insurgent group that is notorious for forcibly recruiting boys into its ranks and making them fight.
‘‘Hey young boys, you can’t move back from the enemy shelling . . . instead just stay there and fight,’’ the comedian said, taking the role of an Al Shabab commander speaking by phone to his youthful troops from an oceanside spot, far from the front lines.
Such ribbing may have cost comedian Abdi Jeylani Malaq his life. On Tuesday, the 43-year-old Malaq was shot dead near his home in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, by two young men suspected of belonging to Al Shabab, a group that pledges fealty to Al Qaeda.
Related: "Al-CIA-Duh" School in Somalia
Once you learn the lesson that all terrorism is created, funded, and directed by western intelligence agencies you have graduated.
The killing sparked calls for investigations.
Many in Somalia will miss Malaq’s ability to make them laugh as they try to overcome some 20 years of conflict.
‘‘He brought smiles to our faces when all . . . was dark and gloomy. He was a genius comedian,’’ said Mohamed Deq Abdi, a Mogadishu resident.
Dozens of Somali journalists gathered around Malaq’s grave on Thursday.
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I'm not laughing at this, either:
"Somalia’s new leader survives terrorist attack" by Abdi Guled | Associated Press, September 13, 2012
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s new president survived an assassination attempt on his second day in office when two suicide bombers blew themselves up Wednesday while trying to gain access into a heavily guarded hotel that is his temporary residence, officials and witnesses said.
The attack highlights the challenge that insecurity caused by an Islamist insurgency poses to Somalia’s fledgling government, which is expected to help transform the East African country from being a failed state to one with a functioning government.
The African Union Mission for Somalia said one of its soldiers was killed when the two suicide attackers attempted to penetrate the Jazeera Hotel, where President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Kenya’s foreign minister were giving a news conference....
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"Armed militants from al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida, were fleeing because they sensed defeat."
Just regrouping....
"Official: Militants kill 12 soldiers in Somalia" by ABDI GULED | Associated Press, December 06, 2012
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Islamist extremists attacked an army post in northeastern Somalia, killing 12 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months by Al Qaeda-linked group Al Shabab, an official said Wednesday.
The attack occurred in Galgala Mountains, in the semiautonomous Puntland region, where the rebels are trying to expand their influence....
I was told they were losing.
Al Shabab rebels have been pushed out of the cities of southern and central Somalia by African Union forces. The Somali government says the militants are consolidating in Galgala.
The rebels’ northern flight to the Galgala Mountain comes after months of increasing pressure from the African Union force, made up of troops from Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
Al Shabab this year merged with a Puntland warlord — Mohamed Said Atom — and clashed with government forces in Puntland several times. Al Qaeda and Al Shabab — the most powerful Islamist militant group in Somalia — merged earlier this year.
I've had it with the narrative at this point, and question whether the war lord even exists. His name -- Mohamed Said Atom(??) -- reminds me of a shaky alibi. More mind manipulation and word games from the mouthpiece media.
Galgala is an ancient mountain town in Puntland and has been a key rebel stronghold for years. Fighters led by former arms trader Atom have been fighting the Puntland government from bases in the mountains for years.
Oh, no, he used to work for us!!
A 2010 report by the UN accused Atom of importing arms from Yemen and receiving consignments from Eritrea, including mortars, for delivery to Al Shabab forces in southern Somalia. Atom’s supporters say he is fighting for more equitable distribution of revenues from oil exploration deals with foreign companies.
And anytime anyone does that they are a terrorist!
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Related: Somalia appeals to UN to arm its military
Also see: Pirates say hostage slain over ransom
Judge gives Somali pirate 12 life sentences in fatal hijackings
Gotta be careful sailing those high seas near Somalia. You never know who you are going to run into.
Ex-Somali official ordered to pay $21m in torture suit
He was working for the U.S. back then and was living here in AmeriKa now!
UPDATE:
Another guy working for US intelligence:
"American jihadi faces Somali death threat
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An Alabama native who moved to Somalia to wage jihad alongside al-Shabab militants faces a Saturday deadline to surrender to the insurgents or be killed, according to his Internet posting.
Omar Hammami — whom the FBI named as one of its most-wanted terrorists in November — has engaged in a public fight with al-Shabab over the last year, and a Twitter account that terrorism analysts believe is run by Hammami or his associates announced Jan. 4 that al-Shabab fighters had given him 15 days to surrender, or else....
The killing of an American foreign fighter would likely harm al-Shabab’s efforts to recruit Westerners, but Hammami has felt in danger for many months. Hammami first expressed fear for his life in an extraordinary web video last March that publicized his rift with the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab.
That's where my printed paper ends it.
Hammami grew up in Daphne, Alabama, a bedroom community of 20,000 outside Mobile. The son of a Christian mother and a Syrian-born Muslim father, Hammami once served as the president of the Muslim Student Associated at the University of South Alabama. He moved to Somalia in 2005 or 2006....
Agent. CIA notorious for recruiting on colleges. Yeah, I know you didn't see that in the intelligence operation called an AmeriKan newspaper.
Hammami has since leveled a myriad of accusations at the group — corruption, murder, ignoring global jihad — and analysts agree the American has become an al-Shabab PR problem.
Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who runs the website jihadology.net, thinks....
Why are the experts in my newspaper always agenda-pushing Jewish war promoters?
‘‘Something tells me at some point they just need to shut this guy up,’’ said Bill Roggio, editor of The Long War Journal....
I can do that.
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