How to Promote Effective Coordination Of Peace Building Projects Within A Country

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August 31, 2018

In the post-cold war era and the rise of a unipolar global hierarchical system led by the United States, the world had seen the fall of many authoritarian regimes (Kaldor, 2006). This caused many civil wars to break out in those countries (Example: Somalia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, etc.) between those who were marginalized for a long period of time and armed militias of the regime (Kaldor, 2006). However, those civil wars caused havoc through large human causalities and the displacement of millions of people both internally and externally as refugees as well as destabilizing global security by becoming a refuge for human trafficking, drug smugglers and terrorist (Ramsbotham, Woodhouse and Miall, 2011).

Courtesy of Chris Hondros
Liberia soldier Joseph Duo exults after firing a rocket at rebel forces in Monrovia, Liberia in 2003. The photo led to an unlikely and enduring friendship between the subject and the photographer, Getty Images photojournalist Chris Hondros. Film still from HONDROS. Photo by Chris Hondros.

Thus, these above-mentioned factors plus some economic interests and foreign policy strategies drove the western powers to intervene in these countries under the umbrella of the United Nations to make peace between the warring factions, under the goals of state building and peace building (Paris, 2004).

However since these peace building operations are complicated and various programs are needed to be implemented by various international agencies, the coordination between them was poor and confusing. For example the UN asked the international agencies working in El Salvador, Mozambique, and Cambodia to allocate more budgets for peace building projects, while the IMF conversely urged them for fiscal restraint (Paris, 2004). This problem therefore does not lie with the UN or the World Bank, but instead is a result of the funding gap between DONOR PLEDGES and the ACTUAL AMOUNT RECEIVED to implement such operations. In the case of Somalia, The London Somalia Conference and 2 (2012 and 2017 ).

However, some attempts had been made to improve the coordination between the peace building agencies. For example in Kosovo, specific projects had been assigned to each agency under the supervision of the Special Representative of the General Secretary (Paris, 2004).Though in practice the operations had overlaps and competition arose among the various agencies.

The United Nation operation in Bosnia was also criticized due to the lack of coordination between its different agencies. To avoid these mistakes, the author suggests establishing an institutional center for peace building to accumulate the expertise and the experience gained from each mission so that they are used in every mission, instead of using personnel and agencies outside of the peace building field.

Australian troops heading into East Timor serving with the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET)

This example could be seen in East Timor in 1999 when the UN’s Department of Political Affairs who were familiar and experienced in the territory were assigned to lead the peace building operations but when the violence started between the anti and the pro-independence groups, the hawks of the UN leadership decided that a military minded agency is needed and they assigned the leadership role to the Department of Peace Keeping operations (DPKO) whose expertise were in running military operations but not governmental administration (Paris, 2004).

In conclusion, one of the main mistakes of foreign interventions are their overwhelming belief in military power and disregard of the contributing role of the local communities, cultures and traditions which could at any time backfire and resort to armed resistance and jeopardize the whole concept of the peace building operation (example, that is what happened to the Americans when they invaded Somalia in 1992 and it is happening to AMISOM now).

REFERENCES
Kaldor, M. 2006. New and Old Wars. Stanford University Press: California
Paris, Roland, “Chapter 11: Lessons Learned and Not Learned: Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Beyond,” in At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004): 212-234.
Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T. and Miall, H. 2011. Contemporary Conflict Resolution. 3rd ed.Polity: Cambridge

About the Author

Ismail Abdi Abdillahi (Bashe Abdi Gaboobe), holds Marine Engineer Certificate from Arab Maritime Transport Academy in Alexandria-Egypt, Marine Engineer Certificate from Sharjah- UAE, Post Graduate Diploma in Peace Building from Hargeysa University and Master degree in Peace Building from Coventry University, UK.

Ministry of Investment Insists on the Existence of A Fake Chinese Bank

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Staff

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August 28, 2018

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In psychology, “being in denial” is accepted as a defense mechanism in which a person, faced with a painful fact, rejects the reality of that fact. The classic symptoms of denial and delusion were on display today at a hastily convened Ministry of Investment press conference.

The purpose of the conference was to refute the Somaliland Chronicle’s claim that the bank the Minister and Director General described as “a world famous Chinese bank which was committed to spending $1 billion (US) in Somaliland” was in fact fake and did not exist.

Courtesy StarTV

The Director General of the Ministry of Investment Ahmed Abokor Mohamed showing papers to the media insisted that they have ensured that Maxtor Bank is all too real and the various registration from Hong Kong and a letter from the State of Colorado proves that Maxtor Bank is in fact a real bank.

Additionally, representatives of Maxtor Bank in Somaliland have also spoken to the veracity of the bank and insisted that in fact it is all too real.

Both the Director General and the Bank representatives, repeated an earlier claim that the bank has been looking into Somaliland for sometime and that this is their third time to visit Somaliland.

As part of the research that Somaliland Chronicle has done, the registration of Maxtor Bank Inc is in fact real even though as Professor Abdisalam Yasin, one of the representatives of Maxtor Bank stated, a company being registered generally means nothing.

The biggest piece of evidence both the Ministry and Maxtor representatives furnished to the media is Maxtor Bank’s registration with the State of Colorado. This is a fact we have reported earlier and the registration is legitimate. Unfortunately, it does not mean anything.

The registration of Maxtor Bank Inc was completed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office 11/05/2018 and Maxtor Bank International Bank Inc on 11/07/2018. Both entities share the same principal by the name of Xingmei Zhao and an address of 2001 16th St, Denver Co 80202.

The first problem is the actual date of incorporation of either entity which are both less than 3 months.

Another problematic piece of information is the address on the registration – 2001 16th St, Denver Co 80202 is actually a parking lot that is still under construction.

Registration address of Maxtor Bank Inc and Maxtor International Bank Inc.

Somaliland Chronicle has informed the office of the Secretary of State of Colorado that Maxtor Bank Inc seems to be operating out of a parking lot.

Maxtor Bank is also registered with the UK authorities on 12 June 2018 under a different name – Maxtor International Limited (Company Number 11410811). Once again, Xingmei Zhao is listed.

One of the representatives of Maxtor Bank curiously explained his relationship with an entity he called “Maxtor IT Trading Co.” We assume this is what the Director General was referring to when he said Maxtor Bank has many subsidiaries, but what is equally perplexing is that Maxtor IT Trading Co. was also registered on July 30 2018.

On Maxtor IT Trading Co.’s Chamber Of Commerce certificate, the Economic Activity is not banking or investment but instead “ICT Firm”.

Both the representatives of Maxtor Bank and the Director General have insisted that Maxtor Bank has major investments in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and other parts of Africa without presenting any supporting evidence of such investments.

Once again, we are uncertain how Maxtor Bank Inc could have done all the purported investments in those countries since it was registered in either May or July of this year. In fact Maxtor Bank is so new their trademark was also filed on July 18 2019.

On the claim that Maxtor Bank has invested in other countries, we were able to locate the registration of Maxtor IT Trading Senegal – Not Maxtor Bank. The purported capital of the Senegalese subsidiary is 1 million Senegalese francs or a whopping 1,783.10 US dollars in today’s exchange rate.

Curiously, the Senegal operation is also focused on IT and not banking.

On Maxtor Bank’s facebook page, there are a dizzying array of documentation, very unsual for any company to be sharing what many companies regard as sensitive information. But in the case of Maxtor Bank, it seems that they are intent on convincing someone of their legitimacy.

One of the photos shared on their facebook is what is known Financial Crimes Information Center operated by the United States Department of Treasury. We are unable to find the registration number shown (3100012924951) in the above document. This is simply a forged documented.

It is also important to note that almost every piece of documentation associated with Maxtor Bank has been created in the last 2 – 3 months.

In today’s media appearance the Director General who vigorously defended the due diligence his ministry has done on Maxtor Bank stated that they have offices in many part of the world including Denver Colorado, and while both the Ministry and Maxtor representatives have shown the same documents we have shared in this article, no one bothered to explain what type of due diligence was undertaken.

Anyone can register a company and call is Janitorial International Bank, it just does not make it a bank. I can unequivocally tell you that Maxtor Bank is a fraud

We have spoken to a retired financial expert who has worked for major banks including S&P, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch in mergers and acquisitions about Maxtor Bank. “Due diligence 101: always check their numbers and independent audit report to really know who you are dealing with in business. Anyone can register a company and call is Janitorial International Bank, it just does not make it a bank. I can unequivocally tell you that Maxtor Bank is a fraud” He said.

While Maxtor Bank’s paper trail shows a deliberate attempt to frantically create concoct semblance of a company registered in multiple jurisdictions, unfortunately, we are unable to locate any financial information. There are no market capitalization, asset under management, number of employees or any other valuable information available to evaluate Maxtor Bank, an investor claiming to have access to billions of investment dollars.

Both the Ministry and the representatives of Maxtor Bank in Somaliland insisted that “the Memorandum of Understanding does not mean they are taking something from us” however we know the modus operandi of such unscrupulous and fraudulent entities. Had the Somaliland Chronicle not broken the story the Ministry of Investment would have been asked to pay the banks fees up front or in advance.

Somaliland Chronicle stands by the findings of its research that Maxtor Bank is not a bank but a newly formed entity with no history or track record. Further the misrepresentations of the company as a “world famous Chinese bank” which the Minister & DG bought demonstrates a clear fraudulent intent.

The incident undoubtedly casts a negative shadow on Somaliland’s credibility in terms of competence and administration. Ministers and senior civil servants with such naivety and gullibility are simply an affront to the Somaliland public.

Ministry of Investment Signs a Billion Dollar Deal with a Non-Existent Chinese Bank

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Staff

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August 26, 2018

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On August 14th, the Minister of Investment Mohamed Ahmed Mohamoud and a Maxtor Bank, a major Chinese bank has signed a billion dollar Memorandum of Understanding. The press event featured the bank’s leadership and the minister signing the deal where they both gave details on the nature of investment.

If all goes according to plan, this will be by all accounts the foreign largest investment which dwarfs even Berbera DP World.

There are few problems that make the deal seem bit murky atbest, starting with the nature of Chinese banking services. Banking in China is a private public partnership where the Chinese government owns 50% of all banks. This alone make the size and the caliber of the delegation seem unlikely.

The other red flag is existence of the bank itself. We simply cannot find this major bank on any registry.

Somaliland Chronicle has contacted China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Bank of China to try and find out more about Maxtor Bank and it turns out that they are not aware of the existence of this bank. They suggested that we double check the name of the bank but assured us that Maxtor Bank is not on their registry.

In our research, the closest thing we are able to find to Maxtor Bank is UN Maxtor Bank, a website with very little information that was last updated in 2012 and few other entities with variations of the name United Nations Maxtor registered with various authorities in the United States and United Kingdom.

It is entirely possible that Maxtor Bank goes by a different name and it may be entirely possible that it is sort of a venture capital where they will be raising the funding from private investors. In other words, having the word bank in the name does not necessarily make an entity a bank.

Maxtor Bank Chairwomen explaining the nature of the billion dollar investment.

“I don’t think any of us understood what was happening”
Ministry of Investment employee

According to Minister Mohamoud, Maxtor Bank will invest in the tourism sector where an entire city with its own wildlife center, luxury hotels, supermarkets, farms and university will be constructed.

It is unclear what data was used to to come to the conclusion to invest one billion dollars in the tourism industry while there are more urgent needs such as transportation and energy infrastructure.

“I don’t think any of us understood what was happening, cameras, microphone and hard to understand translation. My guess is we are trying show the President we are very busy attracting investment” said an Ministry of Investment present at the meeting.

While a billion dollar investment in Somaliland would go a long way, it seems that no due diligence was done by the Ministry of Investment to ascertain the credentials and veracity of various investment firms Somaliland have signed deals with so far.

Somaliland has had a history of entering into dodgy agreements with foreign and domestic entities in the past such as Fishing agreement for ASR and privatization of Berbera Oil Terminal and storage facility which President Muse Bihi Abdi has recently cancelled.

Dr Plagiarizer: Ethiopian Prime Minister Plagiarizes Henry Kissinger

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Staff

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August 26, 2018

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A video of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia surfaced on twitter where he is repeating words from an interview of Henry Kissinger by the Atlantic.

The videos also show another instance of Dr Abiy Ahmed parroting words by the comedian Russel Brandt in his interview for NewStatesman published on October 2013.

The entire interview in which Dr Abiy Ahmed has extensively borrowed from others thoughts and exact words is only 12 minutes long.

These have not been widely circulated but others will be combing over every address Dr Abiy has given in search of more instances of plagiarism.

Results of President Muse Bihi Abdi’s Job Performance Review Poll

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Staff

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August 17, 2018

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The results of our week long poll to evaluate President Muse Bihi Abdi’s performance rating through public polling are finally here! The response rate was less than we anticipated but we believe we have a representative sample to accurate gauge public sentiment of Somaliland President HE Muse Bihi Abdi and his administration.

It is also worth noting that 80% of the votes came in after the President re-nationalized the Berbera Port Oil terminals.

Number of Participants	4,193
Poll Duration	6 Days
Poll Method	Online

43.2% of respondents believe the President is doing great or good work with 29% unfavorable. Interestingly 27.8% think it is too early to evaluate President Bihi’s performance.

Clear majority of respondents have a unfavorable view of the President’s cabinet members. A point the President has acknowledged in a recent speech.

Most interesting question of the lot and its even more interesting that people are putting national unity ahead of the economy and justice.

Another area of consensus is the negative view of Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs team. 66.7% do not believe Somaliland will be recognized during President Bihi’s term as President.

Reshuffle at Somaliland Foreign Missions

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Staff

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August 14, 2018

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United Arab Emarites

The President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi issued a Presidential decree in which he replaced and reassigned members of Somaliland representatives to the United States, United Arab Emirates and Kenya.

Ambassador Bashe Awil, the former Representative of Somaliland to the United Arab Emirates was reassigned to Kenya. This is the most significant change President Bihi has made thus far in his eight month old administration. Mr Awil was appointed by former President Ahmed Mohamoud Siilanyo and is considered one of the most powerful officials in Somaliland government;

While Mr Awil is credited with what some have hailed as a close relationship with the United Arab Emirates and and a key figure in the Berbera DP World deal, he is none the less a lightening rod for opposition where without prove have accused him of corruption and abuse of public office.

Ambassador Awil with Former President Silanyo and

In an interview with Bulsho TV, Ambassador has graciously accepted the reassigned and touched on few of his accomplishments related to the DP World and the lease of the Berbera Airport to the UAE Military.

Ambassador Bashe Awil speaking to Bulsho TV

Mr Awil is replaced by Hassan Hirad Yasin. Mr Yasin is virtually unknown but unconfirmed reports on social media state that he is in the education field currently working in the UAE as a teacher in a private school.

United States of America

President Muse Bihi Abdi also replaced the long term Representative of Somaliland to the United Stated Ambassador Rashid Garuf with Bashir Sheikh Omar Goth.

Rashid Nur Absiye in his office at the Mission.

Mr Goth who is not widely known in Somaliland political circles and hails from a well respected family and is said to be an accomplished poet and a has been an avid blogger who has written about issues in both African and Somali society extensively. According to people who know him, Mr Goth is said to be well qualified for to represent Somaliland in the United States.

In addition to the changes at the foreign missions, the President appointed Mr Hassn Ahmed Ibrahim (Embassy) as the Administrator to the Berbera port fuel and storage facilities. President Bihi has re-nationalized the Berbera port fuel and storage facility on Saturday 11th of August 2018.

Somaliland Government Re-Nationalizes Berbera Port Oil Terminal and Storage

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August 11, 2018

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In a move that is hailed as a major step in the right direction for Somaliland, today the President of Somaliland HE Muse Bihi Abdi issued an order to re-nationalize Berbera Port Oil Terminals.

In addition to re-nationalizing the Berbera Port Oil terminals, the Presidential decree also withdrew the Somaliland government from two other agreements where private enterprises have been contracted to provide security and manage the Egal International Airport parking facilities.

President Muse Bihi Abdi in his weekly cabinet meeting.

There has been a lot of complaints about the manner in which the previous Somaliland administration has transferred the management or outright sold some public infrastructure in the past including the cement factory near Berbera which was sold off to a Kuwaiti and Dahabshiil joint ventures.

Without specifics, the the Presidential decree stated that these contracts where awarded in less than legal circumstances.

Transfer of Berbera oil terminal and storage facilities to Berbera Oil Group where approved by Somaliland Parliament back in 2016 and has caused a lot of public outcry. There are unconfirmed reports that claim members of former President inner circle have ownership stakes in Berbera Oil Group.

Mohamoud Hashi, former Minister of the Presidency and Aviation.

SRM and E-pass where approved back when Mohamoud Hashi was the Minister of Aviation. Again, there are allegations that he owns a stake in both enterprises.

It is unclear if the President’s decree to re-nationalize the Berbera oil terminal and withdraw from the airport related contracts are related to the Parliamentary Commission’s ongoing investigation into former Ministers from the previous administration.

There has been no comments from BOG, SRM and E-pass regarding the presidential decree.

President Muse Bihi Abdi’s Job Performance Review Poll

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Staff

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August 10, 2018

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Evaluate Your President!

We are excited to introduce Somaliland Chronicle Polls. Today, we are conducting a poll to gauge the public opinion on the performance of President Muse Bihi Abdi and his Administration. The Poll is open until midnight August 16th and will publish the results as soon as it closes.

Exclusive: Somaliland – Somalia Accept Peace Settlement Brokered By The United States to End Tukeraq Conflict.

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Staff

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August 6, 2018

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Somaliland and Somalia have accepted peace treaty brokered by the United States Chargé d’affaires Martin Dale. Mr Dale met with Somaliland President HE Muse Bihi Abdi on August 4th and discussed the terms of the peace settlement to end the conflict in Tukeraq with Somalia’s state of Puntland.

SL President Bihi and US Charge Dale had a productive meeting on regional politics, development and humanitarian assistance, and finding an immediate resolution to the SL-PL conflict. pic.twitter.com/WeIHasCGq2
— U.S. Mission-Somalia (@US2SOMALIA) August 4, 2018

Additionally, Mr Dale met with the Somali President Mohamed Abdillahi Farmajo in Mogadishu the same day.

United States Charge D’Affairs Martin Dale with President Muse Bihi

Mr. Dale’s meeting with the two heads of state follows the meetings with the recent visit of IGAD and UNSOM delegation that met with both sides of the Tukeraq conflict as well as members of Somaliland’s opposition parties.

In #Hargeisa today, as part of joint efforts to resolve #Tukaraq conflict, IGAD's Mohamed Ali Guyo and @UNSOM's Raisedon Zenenga presented President Muse Bihi and others with proposals that could lead to peaceful solution. It was agreed that these should be further discussed. pic.twitter.com/945xwhQSfb
— UNSOM (@UNSomalia) July 30, 2018

Diplomatic sources in Nairobi as well as others in Somaliland Presidency confirm the peace settlement and that all sides have accepted and have started to quietly implement its terms.

The most important elements of the settlement include the immediate cessation of hostilities and establishment of direct communication channel between commanders, restart Somaliland and Somalia talks as early as possible and release of POWS.

There are additional terms that Somaliland Chronicle have agreed to not discuss due to the sensitive nature of the settlement.

Mogadishu: Where Hope Goes to Die

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Staff

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August 6, 2018

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Mohamed Mohamoud Sheik is the latest casualty of a war that continues to claim thousands of innocent lives in Somalia, what is different this time is, the victim, Mohamed Mohamoud Sheik was the embodiment of hope and unrelenting ambition and tragically, he too has been consumed by the city where hope itself goes to die.

Mohamed was a prolific entrepreneur and a diaspora returnee who sought to create not only much needed services but also got involved in multiple causes including Startup Grind a global business incubator and a entrepreneur support network in partnership with tech giants like Google.

Mr Sheikh hosting Startup Grind Mogadishu.

Mr. Sheikh was also featured as judge on Inspire Somalia a sort of Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs pitch business ideas to seek funding and guidance from seasoned business people like Mr Sheikh.

In Tedx talk in Mogadishu Mr Sheikh talked about what inspired him to return to Somalia and start a business in Mogadishu.

Aside from his enterpreneurial spirit and infectious smile that has won the hearts of everyone who has come to know him, Mr Sheikh was far from a nobody, instead he was the son of the commanding General of Somalia’s Air force General Mohamoud Sheikh Ali.

Mr Sheikh’s killing bears all the hallmarks of recent spate of brazen assassinations by Al-Shabaab, where victims who were mostly identified as government officials were targeted in public places such as restaurants. Oddly enough though Al-Shabaab generally take credit for terror attacks almost immediately but in the case of Mr Sheikh slaying, there has been no claim of responsibility.

Although no arrests were made public, sources in security services in Mogadishu say there are three suspects in custody and confirmed that they are not affiliated with Al-Shabaab.

From his twitter Mr Sheikh was an outspoken and openly discussed all sorts of things including politics and freely shared his displeasure with some government officials.

Which he has the right to say that with explanation why they don’t recognize them, I don’t see why he should be fired and not these useless other ministers who just attend the music concerts
— Mohamed sheik Ali (@Moesheikali) July 26, 2018

We have reached out to family members of Mr Sheikh to ask if he had any enemies or had any safety concerns and they were unaware of any specific threats to Mr Sheikh’s life. A relative of Mr Sheikh in Switzerland confirmed that there has been reports of arrests though the government has not made any details public and he added that the accused are not Al-Shabaab.

Even in death, Mr Sheikh is still a lightening rod for social justice and his friends in Mogadishu have launched a rally to demand justice for Mr. Sheikh’s killing.

Huge turnout is ongoing in Mogadishu's Benadir junction attended by hundreds of youth showcasing the awful act of a young entrepreneur killed in Mogadishu. They are demanding justice for Moahemd. #WeAreNotSafe. pic.twitter.com/VAM5GgZV6K
— Bashiir Maxmud (@BashiirMaxmud) August 5, 2018

Update: There are unconfirmed reports via twitter and other social media network that Somali authorities have killed the assailants behind Mr Sheikh’s killing. At the moment, Somaliland Chronicle is unable to locate an official statement from the Ministry of Information.

BREAKING: Somali Minister of Information Dahir Mohamud Gelle, told SONNA that the security forces killed today a gunmen behind killing of Mohamed Sheikh Ali youth Activist
— Mohamed isse (@mociise) August 5, 2018

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