Word: somali
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Another African state was lurching into anarchy last week. The disintegration of order and government in Somalia looked like an agonizing replay of the collapse of Liberia last year. Almost duplicating the stages that shattered the West African state, a group of Somali rebel armies sapped the strength of a narrowly based and despotic regime over several years. They then closed in on the capital and smashed the government's rule without replacing it. If this is the end of Siad Barre, his successor has not yet emerged...
...Siad Barre grew old and sick, his ability to command dwindled, and he ^ turned to his family and his Marehan clan to run things. In May 1988 the Somali National Movement, formed by the northern Isaq clan, rose in rebellion and seized several towns. The army put down the revolt with vicious bombing and shelling that killed as many as 50,000 civilians and insurgents. Said a relief worker in Mogadishu last week: "This regime has cold-bloodedly murdered or starved to death nearly 10% of the population, driven another 25% into exile and holds a multitude in jail...
Years ago, Wakamba tribesmen poached in Tsavo, using arrows tipped with poison. Now Somali gangs, including many former soldiers, spray whole families of elephants with automatic-weapon fire. Not all Tsavo's poachers have been outsiders to the park. Some who are paid to protect the elephants -- wardens and rangers -- are also suspect. The evidence: Woodley and others have extracted .303-cal. bullets from carcasses. "The only people who use .303s are the rangers," he says. Numerous carcasses have been found near the rangers' headquarters. And when the park's patrol plane is grounded for inspection, the poachers quickly appear...
...Fifty Somali poachers armed with automatic weapons came nosing around the rhino refuge at Lewa Downs. "But we put out the message that if they came in, a few of them would have to die along with us," says Anna Merz. Under the driver's seat in her car, she carries a spike-headed club. She is not licensed to carry a gun, but she employs guards with old Enfield rifles to patrol her fenced-in 7,500-acre refuge, where approximately 16 rhinos live...
...regional conflicts. The region's problems have their roots in the legacy of colonialism. The principal problem has been with Somalia, which seeks to expand its frontiers at the expense not only of Ethiopia but of other countries too. My meeting with Somali President Siad Barre last January was undertaken at our initiative. Although one cannot expect to wipe away such long-standing problems in one stroke, the beginning has not been without hope...