Much has been said about the curse of natural resources in the African continent. From the suffering of the Ogony people and subsequent murder of environmentalist and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in the Niger Delta, along with eight fellow activists, to the displacement of millions of citizens across the continent so that tyrannical regimes and multinational corporations can exploit and benefit from the riches that cover the beautiful landscape of Africa. Certainly the most publicised of all such enterprises is the diamond trade and how it has oiled and fuelled conflict in parts of Africa. As repressive regimes, lawless rebel groups and multinational corporations have juggled for portions of the pie, the inhabitants of the land have been uprooted and persecuted for voicing their opposition.
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Hagadera Refugee Camp, Kenya–For months, 18-year-old Ahmed Abdullahi had dodged the mortar shells that whizz daily through Mogadishu, the war-ravaged capital of Somalia. The one that finally drove him from Somalia tore though his family’s house and ripped a cousin to bits, splattering Ahmed with blood and body parts.Dodging bullets and bandits, Ahmed fled with his mother across Somalia’s southern border to Hagadera, one of three refugee camps in the deserts of Dadaab, in northeast Kenya. Ahmed obediently fetched firewood and water for his mother but couldn’t find a job.
At least a competent government owns up to its mistake, draws a line under it and moves on. Somalia needs a honest and transparent government. The Somali people should not let their guard down. They should remain on their guard until there is a government which earns the trustworthiness of its people. However, we need to remind ourselves that good governance does not come by itself. It is something sought and guarded by those who wish to cherish its rewards. Nations which have a good system got it through hard work and citizens who engage and whose eyes and ears are wide open. The Somali people should not only expect but fight for a fresh start and a new beginning from the political culture which had resulted Somalia in ruins and at the bottom of all nations. 
Suspected pirates have seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship carrying weapons bound for war-torn Somalia, a regional maritime official revealed on Sunday.Andrew Mwangura, the head of East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme said the ship was en route to war-ravaged Somalia, when Somali pirates attacked and seized on Sunday before diverted it to a northern Somali town called Garacad where it is currently held.”She is one of the regular weapons carriers circumventing the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia,” he told Reuters, adding that the ship now carrying weapons which include light ammunition, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades among others.Somali pirates have confirmed that an arm-laden ship bound for Somali government is under their control but could not comment further for security concerns.
It is agonizing to finally come face to face with the banality of depraved Western diplomatic indifference in Addis Abeba. It is heartbreaking to learn that Western governments have earnestly resolved to humanize and normalize a brutal regime while preaching to Africans in forked tongue that their dictators are on the wrong side of morality and history. They shed crocodile tears for the victims of African dictators. They comfort the helpless and frightened African masses with sweet words of hope and grand promises of democratic renaissance. Now we have come to find out that the hypocrites are secretly in bed with the very dictators they condemn in public! It must be true that “politics makes for strange bedfellows.”
“As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died,” the article notes.Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia has charged European hospitals for dumping all manner of waste in Somali waters. He said much of the waste could be traced back to European hospitals and factories, which “seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply.
Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, a Somali MP has Sunday denounced the former prime minister of the transitional government Nor Hassan Hussein (Nor Adde) for signing secret agreements with EU.Mr. Qanyare told Shabelle Radio that they had got information about secret agreements that was not aware of the Somali MPs and signed by Somali ambassador with the European Union representatives in Kenya.He said that the agreement was signed by the Former Premier Nor Adde as he sent two letters to the EU officials demanding those secret agreements to be implemented.Asked about what the agreement was about, he replied that it was based to allow the foreign warships enter in the coast line of Somalia to fight against the pirates.On the other hand the Somali MP Mohamed Qanyare Afrah also talked more about the activities of Somali pirates attacking and abducting the commercial ships and boats fur away from Somali waters.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called for a united front among Somali journalists – both inside the country and in exile – in the fight for justice, democracy and press freedom.The IFJ does so while confirming its full solidarity and support for the National Union of Somali Journalists, the legitimate and representative organ and voice of journalists in Somalia.The IFJ is seriously concerned at recent exchanges between different groups claiming to represent and speak for Somali journalists, some of whom have political links. 