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To: TexKat

I'm curious about "Putland" and "Somaliland" on that map, so I did a few searches:

http://www.puntlandpost.com/englishnewspage.php?articleid=7261

Last summer, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told ABC News that his government had collected information on the movement of dozens of al Qaeda militants from Pakistan to Somalia, a migration Pakistani officials believe is part of an elaborate al Qaeda operation not only to provide military and financial resources to the UIC but also to establish bases and training facilities in Somalia. Last October, Yemeni authorities arrested eight foreigners, including three Australians, a British national, a German and a Dane, for running an al Qaeda-sponsored weapons and human smuggling network to Somalia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_National_Liberation_Front

When Ethiopia tried to force ONLF to accept a new constitution and ONLF refused, the regime in Ethiopia declared war on ONLF. The ONLF continues to operate in the Ogaden as of 2006 and is the target of full scale military operations by the Ethiopian army after ONLF stated that it will not allow Malaysian oil company Petronas to extract oil from the Ogaden... Although members of the group are composed of different clans, these are overshadowed by the huge proportion from the ogaden clan, which understandably forms the highest population of the Ogaden area. This, along with the name of the organisation being called the Ogaden national liberation front has left a feeling of alienation with many people of the region from other clans, who have a culture of identifying themselves with their clan, and has given a false impression of it being only for people of the ogaden clan.

http://www.puntlandpost.com/englishnewspage.php?articleid=6985

[Dec 18] Reporters Without Borders today condemned the arrest of Omar Faruk Osman, the secretary general of its partner organisation in Somalia, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), and Ali Moalim Isak, the NUSOJ organising secretary. The two journalists were arrested by the security forces of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) at Mogadishu airport yesterday morning and were held all day at the Waberi district police station without being charged or being told the official reason for their detention.


98 posted on 01/09/2007 9:42:26 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("I've learned to live with not knowing." -- Richard Feynman https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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http://www.unpo.org/article.php?id=6105

A return of violence and turmoil to the troubled state of Somalia has refocused international attention on the unrecognised state of Somaliland, as its people continue to witness events from their relatively peaceful northern territory.

British Somaliland was granted independence in 1960, and after a brief period of independence, joined former Italian Somalia to form the Somali Republic. Civil war and widespread unrest put increasing pressure on this union, which was exasperated further by the eventual collapse of the Somali Republic in 1991, following the overthrow of its military dictatorship.

In response, clan elders led the former British protectorate to announce an end to the union with Somalia, thus declaring formal independence for Somaliland in 1991. A 2001 referendum reaffirmed this status and also provided its government with a new democratic constitution. Despite these successful efforts to enhance its legitimacy and democratise its institutions, international recognition of Somaliland’s independence has not been forthcoming.


99 posted on 01/09/2007 9:50:06 AM PST by SunkenCiv ("I've learned to live with not knowing." -- Richard Feynman https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks for the links SunkenCiv!


101 posted on 01/09/2007 9:52:10 AM PST by TexKat (Just because you did not see it or read it, that does not mean it did or did not happen.)
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