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In his address at the UN General Assembly, Mohamud Ahmadinejad, the leader of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, irritated some of the world leaders with his hypothesis that the 9/11 was a
conspiracy made by the U.S. I am sure that this rhetoric has been the talking point of New
Yorkers in general and those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy of 9/11. In fact, it was one
of the points that David Letterman used to entertain his Ä


viewers. Moreover,
President Obama described this remarks as ³hateful and offensive.´ However, in back home
Somalia and the Somali community in the Diaspora, we have our own irritators: the meaningless
political crisis between Sharif and Sharmarke, which eventually ended with the resignation of
Mr. Sharmarke; the daily loss of civilians in Mogadishu either by the hands of the so-called al-
Shababul mujahidin or the AMISOM troops; and unfortunately, the under-investigation of a
prostitution ring of a 15
year old Somali girl in
Minnesota.

Political clashes
between the high level
officials of TNG and
TFGs are not something
new. It¶s one of the
negative political
aspects that we have Abdikasim Salad Abdullahi Yusuf Sharif Sh. Axmed
had for the last ten years. If there is anything that can be taken from these non-sense disputes, it
can be the lack of maturity from those who claim to be the ³leaders´ of our home country. There
are at least three reasons that can be used to analyze why these disputes take place. The first
reason is that personal/group agendas are the priorities of these leaders rather than at least
planning and taking care of the Somali women and children, who are suffering from lack of
clinical care and malnutrition let alone securing their sacred lives. Second, Parliamentarian
system is weak, and therefore, political clashes are an avoidable. To prove this point, some
examples of those governments that suffer from this problem are Ukraine and Italy. In 2007,
Yulia Tymoshenko was elected as a Prime Minister by a coalition group of Ukraine¶s
Parliament, and both parties of Tymoshenko and Victor Yushenko, the leader of the Orange
Revolution of 2004, collapsed in 2008 because of the political clashes between the two leaders.
In Italy, on the other hand, according to the   , a Washington DC based think tank,
which its main function is to monitor the democracies of the world, Italians had seen more than
50 governments since 1945. Unlike the Somali case of political clashes where there are no
formal political parties, for the Ukrainians and the Italians, there are coalition clashes. The
parties that form governments slam against each other for political agendas that may result for
two possibilities: compromising and agreeing on a common ground or defeating the existing
governments and forming a new one, based on which coalition parties that can win the majority
votes. Third, there is an equal power between the president and the prime minister, and this goes
back to the Transitional Charter of 2004 that is still in effect until a permanent Somali
Constitution will be drafted. However, the former Prime Minster of the TNG, Dr. Ali Khalif
Galeyr, stated in an interview that he has recently given to the Somali VOA that the solution to
these ongoing disputes between presidents and prime ministers is to come up with a system of
deputy presidents instead of having prime ministers. Mr. Galeyr might be right since he has
personally dealt with this issue, but the application of his suggestion requires drafting a
constitution that clearly dictates how to establish the future Somali government.

Another tragedy that irritates us is the civilian fatalities that routinely take place in Mogadishu
either by the hands of the AMISOM troops or the hands of al-Shabab fanatics and Hisbul-Islam.
It is sad to see that Somalis have been victims for the last twenty years. Clan-based warlords had
been subjugating them until the Islamic Courts Union came to power at the beginning of 2006.
One thing that these warlords were good about was that they were not using Islam as a pretext of
shedding civilian bloods. On the other hand, the Islamic Courts have produced the worst
militants that Somalis have ever witnessed. However, the latest attack that took place last
Thursday, which was said to be carried out by the AMISOM troops, was horrific. Likewise, the
alien culture of the suicide attacks against the Shaamoow and Muna Hotels were the most
horrific acts committed by the extremist group. In the last clashes between the AMISOM troops
and militant groups, more than 20 people were reported dead and almost hundred injured
civilians were taken to hospitals. Moreover, one important thing that needs to be stated here is
that unlike the geo-political agenda that was the main factor behind the invasion of the Ethiopian
troops in Mogadishu in the late 2006 without any UN approval, the AMISOM troops are there
with the arrangement of the UN and an agreement with the current Somali government whether
we can swallow that notion or not. AMISOM troops have the right to defend themselves if they
are attacked by those who hide in the civilian populated areas, like the Bakara market and other
residential areas in Mogadishu. It is the responsibility of the Somalis in Mogadishu and
elsewhere to stand up and revolt against those who hold their country hostage in the name of
Islam. I believe this is doable, but it needs a courageous leadership that can mobilize people with
the vision of Somalism, which is the vision that the forefathers have used for the foundation of
Somalia.

The recent report of a prostitution ring of a teenage Somali girl from Minnesota is a heart-
breaking dishonor that the Somalis in the Diaspora have to deal with. This shows the double-
faced outcomes that the Diaspora has produced, because Minnesota is the same place that the
young Somali Americans were recruited to join for the Shabab militants in Somalia. However,
this is not the only prostitution case that we are facing. In July 2007, John Nene of the BBC
News in Mombasa reported that prostitution activities from ³Muslim women´ in the streets of
Mombasa. Ironically, those prostitutes wear what the Kenyans call ³buibui,´ but widely known
as niqaab or veil, which is covered the entire face except the eyes. One individual that the BBC
reporter interviewed said that these prostitutes are from Somalia and Ethiopia, and they wear the
³buibui¶ to avoid public humiliation. In the case of Minnesota, Laura Yuen, from the Minnesota
Public Radio (MPR) reports that the Somali Americans are shocked with the prostitution news
despite the fact that this act is taboo in the Somali tradition. This shock that Ms. Yuen is talking
about has been expressed by the Somali community leaders in the Twin Cities after this issue is
circulated in the press. However, the most astonishing fact is that there are Somali gangs, who
are the actors involving in this ring, according to the MPR report.
Somalis in everywhere are irritated by these crises whether they are from inside Somalia, as the
daily civilian casualties and the political disputes between the TFG leaders or in the Diaspora, as
the prostitution case that is coming from the teenage Somali girl in the state of Minnesota.
However, fortunately, the political crisis among the TFG leaders has come to an end, but the end
of the civilian shelling will come to end only when the Somalis reclaim their country from those
who claim that they are killing people for the sake of Islam. One the prostitution ring news that
now sparked from Minnesota and Tennessee, the blame goes to the Somali institutions, including
the households in the Diaspora. We have seen many ³community organizations,´ but failed to
see tangible programs set up for the young Somali generation. However, together, households
and "community organizations" have failed to play their role and save the youngsters from these
deplorable results.