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Thank you for all those who made the 2011 Sullivan Honors a success. Please enjoy this commemorative publication from the historic night.
Will Artificial Rain End the Cycle of Hunger?
At a time when 11 million people are facing starvation in the worst drought in 60 years in Northern Kenya and the Horn of Africa, a group of scientists now say they can make rain.
The scientists say they can use weather modification technology to halt the devastating drought and bring rain in northern Kenya, Somali and Ethiopia, within 90 days.
“Aquiess Global Rain Project is offering its rainfall technology to break the drought by bringing gentle soaking rain to the region within the next 90 days,” says Mr David Miles, the director of operations and planning at Aquiess Global Rain Project.
He says they plan to do this as part of their humanitarian support for the region.
“We can not just sit and pretend that all is well, we have decided to come and see how we can help in alleviating the situation in this region,” said Mr Miles.
So, how will they make rain?
Mr Miles says an experiment on weather modification by Aquiess revealed that “small amounts of electromagnetic energy, applied intelligently,” could force change in the weather.
“This research culminated in the development of an atmospheric resonance technology that can adjust the path of rain bearing clouds,” said Mr Miles.
Last week, the company met UN agencies in Rome to discuss ways of applying their weather modification technology to break the drought in the Horn of Africa.
Mahendra Shah, the Director for International Policy and Communications at AquiessGlobal said the Horn of Africa project will not be the first in the world. He said they had held successful rain making projects in Australia, Qatar and the US.
“We used our rain making technology in Australia in 2005 to draw rains into Murray Darling Basin, Eastern Australia, which ended their drought within five months,” says Mr Shah.
He says 50 years of research had enhanced their knowledge on the dynamics of rain making and that the world cannot watch as human beings die without doing anything.
“Aquiess is doing this project on humanitarian grounds and the project will cost $10 million (Sh900 million), which we would request the donor community to fund for the sake of ending the drought,” said Mr Shah.
Mr Bill Pollock, the chairman of Aquiess Global, said whereas the top priority in the region is emergency relief aid, there can be no end to the humanitarian crisis until the rains come and the drought is broken.
“The weathermen are saying the soonest the region can get rains is in October, until then the world would have used billions of shillings in addressing the situation, but rain will be a cost-cutting measure because we can have people go back to their normal lives,” said Mr Pollock.
He said that there has been a decline in the support for weather modification research in recent years because of skeptics who doubt the technology.
Mr Miles said 70 per cent of the world’s rain falls into the oceans, and they were interested in diverting part of these rains to the semi-arid lands in the region.
The Weather Meteorological Organisation says the rain making technology dates back to the late 1940s. According to organisation, there are currently a dozens of nations operating hundreds of weather modification projects, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions all over the world. Kenya Meteorological Department’s deputy director, PeterAmbenje, said weather modification was not new in Kenya and that it was part of Vision2030.He said the ministry of the Environment and Mineral Resources plans to the establish a cloud chamber laboratory for rainfall enhancement and hailstone suppression.
“As a country we cannot overlook the project, we would have liked to pursue it but the problem is the cost. It is expensive to create rain, but it is part of our vision 2030,” said Mr Ambenje.
Mr Ambenje said there was a complete department on the weather modification at the Metrological Department.
Al-Shabaab Retreats from Mogadishu
Mogadishu — The Somali army has declared Mogadishu a “free territory” after fighters from the radical al-ShabaabIslamist group fled the capital.
Deputy army commander Gen Abdikarim Yusuf Aden confirmed the fundamentalist group’s dramatic pull-out Sunday morning, adding that it had been as a result of military pressure from government forces and its allies, including AU peacekeepers.
“I embrace with happiness the setback that overwhelmed al-Shabaab,” he said. “I can now declare Mogadishu a free territory.”
Gen Aden said al-Shabaab fighters had probably realised the odds were against them in the face of a planned major offensive, informing their withdrawal from their key positions in the capital.
Most of the retreating al-Shabaab combatants headed towards Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions, respectively south and north of Mogadishu, in what they claimed was a “change in tactic”.
“They must have received confidential information to convince them to vacate the capital,” said Gen Aden while speaking to the media at Mogadishu Stadium, al-Shabaab’s main base in the Somali capital.
On Saturday, Somali prime minister Prof Abdiweli Mohamed Ali labelled the leaders ofal-Shabaab as fugitives and said security forces were on their trail.
“We are going to pursue them until their last fighter is put out of action,” said Gen Aden.
And in a related development, the transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) has ordered al-Shabaab fighters hiding in the capital to surrender by August 7.
NSA director Ahmed Moalim Fiqi told the press that the intelligence agency was aware of rebels holed up in Mogadishu and ordered them to give themselves up to security forces.
“If they present themselves, we will recognise them as citizens with rights to go through corrective means. Should they remain in hiding, we will treat them as enemy to be dealt with an iron fist,” said Mr Fiqi, a former Somali ambassador to Khartoum.
UN Declares Famine in Another Three Areas
The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing the number of regions to five in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoyecorridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are now in a state of famine. On 20 July the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in southern Bakool region.
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
The spread of the famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), meanwhile, said that the appeal for funds to respond the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, is still only 44 per cent funded, with an additional $1.4 billion still required to cover unmet needs. An estimated 12.4 million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to OCHA.
In the Dadaab complex of refugee camps in Kenya – whose population has swelled to nearly 380,000 in recent months, including 40,000 arrivals from Somalia last month alone – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that mass screening for malnutrition conducted in two of the camps in July revealed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition.
The agency has transferred more than 10,500 recent Somali arrivals to Dadaab’s Ifocamp extension in an ongoing relocation operation. UNHCR has airlifted thousands of tents to Kenya to accommodate the refugee population, but an additional 45,000 tents are still needed as the influx continues. The agency also voiced concern that Dadaab’swater resources could soon be overstretched.
In a related development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work together to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine.
“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” said Mr. Mahiga in a letter to the Somali diaspora.
“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.
Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas, he said.
“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.
Young African Women Train for Leadership
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Thank you for all those who made the 2011 Sullivan Honors a success. Please enjoy this commemorative publication from the historic night.
Will Artificial Rain End the Cycle of Hunger?
At a time when 11 million people are facing starvation in the worst drought in 60 years in Northern Kenya and the Horn of Africa, a group of scientists now say they can make rain.
The scientists say they can use weather modification technology to halt the devastating drought and bring rain in northern Kenya, Somali and Ethiopia, within 90 days.
“Aquiess Global Rain Project is offering its rainfall technology to break the drought by bringing gentle soaking rain to the region within the next 90 days,” says Mr David Miles, the director of operations and planning at Aquiess Global Rain Project.
He says they plan to do this as part of their humanitarian support for the region.
“We can not just sit and pretend that all is well, we have decided to come and see how we can help in alleviating the situation in this region,” said Mr Miles.
So, how will they make rain?
Mr Miles says an experiment on weather modification by Aquiess revealed that “small amounts of electromagnetic energy, applied intelligently,” could force change in the weather.
“This research culminated in the development of an atmospheric resonance technology that can adjust the path of rain bearing clouds,” said Mr Miles.
Last week, the company met UN agencies in Rome to discuss ways of applying their weather modification technology to break the drought in the Horn of Africa.
Mahendra Shah, the Director for International Policy and Communications at AquiessGlobal said the Horn of Africa project will not be the first in the world. He said they had held successful rain making projects in Australia, Qatar and the US.
“We used our rain making technology in Australia in 2005 to draw rains into Murray Darling Basin, Eastern Australia, which ended their drought within five months,” says Mr Shah.
He says 50 years of research had enhanced their knowledge on the dynamics of rain making and that the world cannot watch as human beings die without doing anything.
“Aquiess is doing this project on humanitarian grounds and the project will cost $10 million (Sh900 million), which we would request the donor community to fund for the sake of ending the drought,” said Mr Shah.
Mr Bill Pollock, the chairman of Aquiess Global, said whereas the top priority in the region is emergency relief aid, there can be no end to the humanitarian crisis until the rains come and the drought is broken.
“The weathermen are saying the soonest the region can get rains is in October, until then the world would have used billions of shillings in addressing the situation, but rain will be a cost-cutting measure because we can have people go back to their normal lives,” said Mr Pollock.
He said that there has been a decline in the support for weather modification research in recent years because of skeptics who doubt the technology.
Mr Miles said 70 per cent of the world’s rain falls into the oceans, and they were interested in diverting part of these rains to the semi-arid lands in the region.
The Weather Meteorological Organisation says the rain making technology dates back to the late 1940s. According to organisation, there are currently a dozens of nations operating hundreds of weather modification projects, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions all over the world. Kenya Meteorological Department’s deputy director, PeterAmbenje, said weather modification was not new in Kenya and that it was part of Vision2030.He said the ministry of the Environment and Mineral Resources plans to the establish a cloud chamber laboratory for rainfall enhancement and hailstone suppression.
“As a country we cannot overlook the project, we would have liked to pursue it but the problem is the cost. It is expensive to create rain, but it is part of our vision 2030,” said Mr Ambenje.
Mr Ambenje said there was a complete department on the weather modification at the Metrological Department.
Al-Shabaab Retreats from Mogadishu
Mogadishu — The Somali army has declared Mogadishu a “free territory” after fighters from the radical al-ShabaabIslamist group fled the capital.
Deputy army commander Gen Abdikarim Yusuf Aden confirmed the fundamentalist group’s dramatic pull-out Sunday morning, adding that it had been as a result of military pressure from government forces and its allies, including AU peacekeepers.
“I embrace with happiness the setback that overwhelmed al-Shabaab,” he said. “I can now declare Mogadishu a free territory.”
Gen Aden said al-Shabaab fighters had probably realised the odds were against them in the face of a planned major offensive, informing their withdrawal from their key positions in the capital.
Most of the retreating al-Shabaab combatants headed towards Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions, respectively south and north of Mogadishu, in what they claimed was a “change in tactic”.
“They must have received confidential information to convince them to vacate the capital,” said Gen Aden while speaking to the media at Mogadishu Stadium, al-Shabaab’s main base in the Somali capital.
On Saturday, Somali prime minister Prof Abdiweli Mohamed Ali labelled the leaders ofal-Shabaab as fugitives and said security forces were on their trail.
“We are going to pursue them until their last fighter is put out of action,” said Gen Aden.
And in a related development, the transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) has ordered al-Shabaab fighters hiding in the capital to surrender by August 7.
NSA director Ahmed Moalim Fiqi told the press that the intelligence agency was aware of rebels holed up in Mogadishu and ordered them to give themselves up to security forces.
“If they present themselves, we will recognise them as citizens with rights to go through corrective means. Should they remain in hiding, we will treat them as enemy to be dealt with an iron fist,” said Mr Fiqi, a former Somali ambassador to Khartoum.
UN Declares Famine in Another Three Areas
The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing the number of regions to five in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoyecorridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are now in a state of famine. On 20 July the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in southern Bakool region.
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
The spread of the famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), meanwhile, said that the appeal for funds to respond the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, is still only 44 per cent funded, with an additional $1.4 billion still required to cover unmet needs. An estimated 12.4 million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to OCHA.
In the Dadaab complex of refugee camps in Kenya – whose population has swelled to nearly 380,000 in recent months, including 40,000 arrivals from Somalia last month alone – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that mass screening for malnutrition conducted in two of the camps in July revealed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition.
The agency has transferred more than 10,500 recent Somali arrivals to Dadaab’s Ifocamp extension in an ongoing relocation operation. UNHCR has airlifted thousands of tents to Kenya to accommodate the refugee population, but an additional 45,000 tents are still needed as the influx continues. The agency also voiced concern that Dadaab’swater resources could soon be overstretched.
In a related development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work together to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine.
“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” said Mr. Mahiga in a letter to the Somali diaspora.
“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.
Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas, he said.
“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.
Young African Women Train for Leadership
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At a time when 11 million people are facing starvation in the worst drought in 60 years in Northern Kenya and the Horn of Africa, a group of scientists now say they can make rain.
The scientists say they can use weather modification technology to halt the devastating drought and bring rain in northern Kenya, Somali and Ethiopia, within 90 days.
“Aquiess Global Rain Project is offering its rainfall technology to break the drought by bringing gentle soaking rain to the region within the next 90 days,” says Mr David Miles, the director of operations and planning at Aquiess Global Rain Project.
He says they plan to do this as part of their humanitarian support for the region.
“We can not just sit and pretend that all is well, we have decided to come and see how we can help in alleviating the situation in this region,” said Mr Miles.
So, how will they make rain?
Mr Miles says an experiment on weather modification by Aquiess revealed that “small amounts of electromagnetic energy, applied intelligently,” could force change in the weather.
“This research culminated in the development of an atmospheric resonance technology that can adjust the path of rain bearing clouds,” said Mr Miles.
Last week, the company met UN agencies in Rome to discuss ways of applying their weather modification technology to break the drought in the Horn of Africa.
Mahendra Shah, the Director for International Policy and Communications at AquiessGlobal said the Horn of Africa project will not be the first in the world. He said they had held successful rain making projects in Australia, Qatar and the US.
“We used our rain making technology in Australia in 2005 to draw rains into Murray Darling Basin, Eastern Australia, which ended their drought within five months,” says Mr Shah.
He says 50 years of research had enhanced their knowledge on the dynamics of rain making and that the world cannot watch as human beings die without doing anything.
“Aquiess is doing this project on humanitarian grounds and the project will cost $10 million (Sh900 million), which we would request the donor community to fund for the sake of ending the drought,” said Mr Shah.
Mr Bill Pollock, the chairman of Aquiess Global, said whereas the top priority in the region is emergency relief aid, there can be no end to the humanitarian crisis until the rains come and the drought is broken.
“The weathermen are saying the soonest the region can get rains is in October, until then the world would have used billions of shillings in addressing the situation, but rain will be a cost-cutting measure because we can have people go back to their normal lives,” said Mr Pollock.
He said that there has been a decline in the support for weather modification research in recent years because of skeptics who doubt the technology.
Mr Miles said 70 per cent of the world’s rain falls into the oceans, and they were interested in diverting part of these rains to the semi-arid lands in the region.
The Weather Meteorological Organisation says the rain making technology dates back to the late 1940s. According to organisation, there are currently a dozens of nations operating hundreds of weather modification projects, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions all over the world. Kenya Meteorological Department’s deputy director, PeterAmbenje, said weather modification was not new in Kenya and that it was part of Vision2030.He said the ministry of the Environment and Mineral Resources plans to the establish a cloud chamber laboratory for rainfall enhancement and hailstone suppression.
“As a country we cannot overlook the project, we would have liked to pursue it but the problem is the cost. It is expensive to create rain, but it is part of our vision 2030,” said Mr Ambenje.
Mr Ambenje said there was a complete department on the weather modification at the Metrological Department.
Al-Shabaab Retreats from Mogadishu
Mogadishu — The Somali army has declared Mogadishu a “free territory” after fighters from the radical al-ShabaabIslamist group fled the capital.
Deputy army commander Gen Abdikarim Yusuf Aden confirmed the fundamentalist group’s dramatic pull-out Sunday morning, adding that it had been as a result of military pressure from government forces and its allies, including AU peacekeepers.
“I embrace with happiness the setback that overwhelmed al-Shabaab,” he said. “I can now declare Mogadishu a free territory.”
Gen Aden said al-Shabaab fighters had probably realised the odds were against them in the face of a planned major offensive, informing their withdrawal from their key positions in the capital.
Most of the retreating al-Shabaab combatants headed towards Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions, respectively south and north of Mogadishu, in what they claimed was a “change in tactic”.
“They must have received confidential information to convince them to vacate the capital,” said Gen Aden while speaking to the media at Mogadishu Stadium, al-Shabaab’s main base in the Somali capital.
On Saturday, Somali prime minister Prof Abdiweli Mohamed Ali labelled the leaders ofal-Shabaab as fugitives and said security forces were on their trail.
“We are going to pursue them until their last fighter is put out of action,” said Gen Aden.
And in a related development, the transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) has ordered al-Shabaab fighters hiding in the capital to surrender by August 7.
NSA director Ahmed Moalim Fiqi told the press that the intelligence agency was aware of rebels holed up in Mogadishu and ordered them to give themselves up to security forces.
“If they present themselves, we will recognise them as citizens with rights to go through corrective means. Should they remain in hiding, we will treat them as enemy to be dealt with an iron fist,” said Mr Fiqi, a former Somali ambassador to Khartoum.
UN Declares Famine in Another Three Areas
The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing the number of regions to five in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoyecorridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are now in a state of famine. On 20 July the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in southern Bakool region.
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
The spread of the famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), meanwhile, said that the appeal for funds to respond the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, is still only 44 per cent funded, with an additional $1.4 billion still required to cover unmet needs. An estimated 12.4 million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to OCHA.
In the Dadaab complex of refugee camps in Kenya – whose population has swelled to nearly 380,000 in recent months, including 40,000 arrivals from Somalia last month alone – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that mass screening for malnutrition conducted in two of the camps in July revealed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition.
The agency has transferred more than 10,500 recent Somali arrivals to Dadaab’s Ifocamp extension in an ongoing relocation operation. UNHCR has airlifted thousands of tents to Kenya to accommodate the refugee population, but an additional 45,000 tents are still needed as the influx continues. The agency also voiced concern that Dadaab’swater resources could soon be overstretched.
In a related development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work together to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine.
“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” said Mr. Mahiga in a letter to the Somali diaspora.
“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.
Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas, he said.
“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.
Young African Women Train for Leadership
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mogadishu — The Somali army has declared Mogadishu a “free territory” after fighters from the radical al-ShabaabIslamist group fled the capital.
Deputy army commander Gen Abdikarim Yusuf Aden confirmed the fundamentalist group’s dramatic pull-out Sunday morning, adding that it had been as a result of military pressure from government forces and its allies, including AU peacekeepers.
“I embrace with happiness the setback that overwhelmed al-Shabaab,” he said. “I can now declare Mogadishu a free territory.”
Gen Aden said al-Shabaab fighters had probably realised the odds were against them in the face of a planned major offensive, informing their withdrawal from their key positions in the capital.
Most of the retreating al-Shabaab combatants headed towards Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle regions, respectively south and north of Mogadishu, in what they claimed was a “change in tactic”.
“They must have received confidential information to convince them to vacate the capital,” said Gen Aden while speaking to the media at Mogadishu Stadium, al-Shabaab’s main base in the Somali capital.
On Saturday, Somali prime minister Prof Abdiweli Mohamed Ali labelled the leaders ofal-Shabaab as fugitives and said security forces were on their trail.
“We are going to pursue them until their last fighter is put out of action,” said Gen Aden.
And in a related development, the transitional government’s National Security Agency (NSA) has ordered al-Shabaab fighters hiding in the capital to surrender by August 7.
NSA director Ahmed Moalim Fiqi told the press that the intelligence agency was aware of rebels holed up in Mogadishu and ordered them to give themselves up to security forces.
“If they present themselves, we will recognise them as citizens with rights to go through corrective means. Should they remain in hiding, we will treat them as enemy to be dealt with an iron fist,” said Mr Fiqi, a former Somali ambassador to Khartoum.
UN Declares Famine in Another Three Areas
The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing the number of regions to five in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoyecorridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are now in a state of famine. On 20 July the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in southern Bakool region.
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
The spread of the famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), meanwhile, said that the appeal for funds to respond the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, is still only 44 per cent funded, with an additional $1.4 billion still required to cover unmet needs. An estimated 12.4 million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to OCHA.
In the Dadaab complex of refugee camps in Kenya – whose population has swelled to nearly 380,000 in recent months, including 40,000 arrivals from Somalia last month alone – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that mass screening for malnutrition conducted in two of the camps in July revealed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition.
The agency has transferred more than 10,500 recent Somali arrivals to Dadaab’s Ifocamp extension in an ongoing relocation operation. UNHCR has airlifted thousands of tents to Kenya to accommodate the refugee population, but an additional 45,000 tents are still needed as the influx continues. The agency also voiced concern that Dadaab’swater resources could soon be overstretched.
In a related development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work together to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine.
“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” said Mr. Mahiga in a letter to the Somali diaspora.
“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.
Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas, he said.
“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.
Young African Women Train for Leadership
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The United Nations today declared a famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing the number of regions to five in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said the Afgoyecorridor outside Mogadishu, the capital itself, and the Middle Shabelle region are now in a state of famine. On 20 July the UN declared outright famine in Lower Shabelle and in southern Bakool region.
A famine can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.
The spread of the famine conditions highlights the seriousness of the food crisis facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu. The declaration of famine in the capital follows the massive influx of starving adults and children into the city in the past two months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), meanwhile, said that the appeal for funds to respond the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa region, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, is still only 44 per cent funded, with an additional $1.4 billion still required to cover unmet needs. An estimated 12.4 million people in the entire region are in need of assistance, according to OCHA.
In the Dadaab complex of refugee camps in Kenya – whose population has swelled to nearly 380,000 in recent months, including 40,000 arrivals from Somalia last month alone – the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that mass screening for malnutrition conducted in two of the camps in July revealed alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition.
The agency has transferred more than 10,500 recent Somali arrivals to Dadaab’s Ifocamp extension in an ongoing relocation operation. UNHCR has airlifted thousands of tents to Kenya to accommodate the refugee population, but an additional 45,000 tents are still needed as the influx continues. The agency also voiced concern that Dadaab’swater resources could soon be overstretched.
In a related development, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, appealed to all Somalis, both inside and outside the country, to work together to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine.
“This is a time of great crisis, but also of rare opportunity. It is a time for everyone to pull together to help those suffering and to work towards a better future for all,” said Mr. Mahiga in a letter to the Somali diaspora.
“I appeal to all those who are able – Somalis and the international community alike – to give as much as they can during this Holy Month to feed the hungry, heal the sick and prevent the famine spreading further,” he stated, referring to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan that began on Monday.
Mr. Mahiga noted that despite recent progress on the political front, one of the contributing factors to the famine has been the ongoing fighting in the country. Some of the extremists are continuing their efforts to intimidate the population by preventing the movement of people from the worst-hit areas, he said.
“We call for the humanitarian agencies to be given unhindered access to all areas to provide desperately needed help,” he wrote, adding that the insecurity in many areas means that aid workers take huge risks to make their life-saving deliveries.
Young African Women Train for Leadership
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Is it possible to have more women as Africa’s leading lights in politics, business and development?
Twenty-five emerging young women leaders from across Africa have just completed a leadership institute at the University of Ghana as the start of a year-long fellowshipprogramme by the Ghana-based MOREMI Initiative Leadership programme(MILEAD) designed to ensure that the next generation of leaders in Africa includes women.
“We are hoping that there would be a ready pool of equipped, knowledgeable, strong women available that can be called upon to serve in different sectors,” said MawuliDake, the lead coach of the MILEAD Fellowship programme.
The young women study leadership values and skills, interact with leaders and develop and implement a community project in their home countries to prepare them for future leadership roles, Dake said.
The past decade has seen several African women fill key positions at international institutions, such as the World Bank, while a woman President was elected in Liberia in 2005. However, women’s rights activists say several governments and privateorganisations still claim that there aren’t enough women to occupy leadership roles.
Women also may face entrenched cultural stereotypes that undermine their ability to be leaders and when they rise to such positions they often encounter subtle discrimination at work, especially with regard to promotion.
“Some of them achieve a lot on their own merit but people are suspicious of them,” saidDake, a rights activist and consultant based in the U.S.
“For instance if a young man in an organisation gets a promotion it is perceived as normal, but as a young girl, in that same position and with the same talent, people would say you did this or that to get it and doubt how you achieved such progress,” she added.
A study on challenges faced by women leaders as school principals in rural areas in southern Africa found that the women were doubly disadvantaged in that they had to prove to their communities that they are capable of leading and also to work harder than their male colleagues. In most cases they worked in an environment that did not fully support them.
Experts have identified the absence of support networks and mentors as one of the reasons why talented and qualified African women fail to reach leadership positions in their countries and in the continent.
Organisers say the MILEAD programme offers the selected young women an opportunity to build a continent-wide network on which they can draw experience and support as they climb the leadership ladder.
“We hope that when they attain leadership positions these skills and solidarity that they learn from the programme will enable them be good women leaders,” Dake toldTrustLaw during a phone interview from Accra.
The last cohort of fellows had an opportunity at the United Nations last March to participate in the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women,in a bid to build relations with other women’s rights organisations and extend their support networks.
“As young women, we have the role and ability to participate and make meaningful contributions to addressing our challenges and those of our communities and countries,” said Sarah Simba, a MILEAD Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
