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I had heard a lot about Hadraawi, the legendary Somali poet. Even though I didn’t see him when he last came to Nairobi for the last Kwani? Litfest, I got my second chance to see him when I attended his performance at the sixth Hargeysa International Book Fair in Somaliland. I expected to see a fiery old man with the steely gaze of the Old Testament prophets, a fitting persona for a fearless critic who told the truth to power without fear. So I was surprised to find a rather mild-mannered old man who acknowledged the applause of his audience with a warm smile, then calmly walked off stage, his papers tucked under his arm, to seemingly melt into the crowd. You could easily mistake Mr Hadraawi, real name Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, for just another Somali pastoralist going about his daily business. And yet this man could as well be the lone reservoir of his people’s rich oratorical culture, not to mention a longtime thorn in the flesh of dictator Siad Barre, who was d...

by Liban Obsiye Saturday, August 17, 2013 The green door looks inviting It winks at me and calls me over But the grey gate is firmly shut. The doorbell asks to be rung But no one is home for me The lush front garden smiles widely The dog inside growl’s from the sign. I walk on hungry all day I am pulled by the smell of food from a café The sun soaked chairs outside invite me to sit But the sign on it says “Reserved” Welcome reads the shiny mat at the door If you have money to eat. Unwelcome I float on Moving slowly between the two worlds My belly rumbles with anger My body paralysed by hopelessness My eyes tearful with fear Heart emptied of love. I seek refuge under a tree The grass strokes my hair My eyes closed with weariness I want to scream to God But heaven is too far from here. On my feet I drag myself on One more step I lie to the soul One more day I insist One more chan...

It was sad to see the plight of a family friend in London. She had always smiled and laughed about everything but on my last visit it appeared as though she was possessed by misery. Between uncontrollable sobbing and long periods of pause she finally made me understand. It was indeed the worst case of abuse of refugees I have heard recently. Fatumo (not her real name) has been supporting her sister’s family in Mogadishu Somalia since she came to the UK in 1996. She works as a cleaner and uses her meager wages to split in so many ways in an effort to feed her extended family which she left behind. A few months earlier her sister’s eldest son, Ahmed, decided he could no longer remain at home and stole the family’s entire savings to pay people traffickers to take him first to Libya and then across the sea to Italy and into, as he put it, “More friendlier European nations.” Despite her sorrow, Ahmed’s mother forgave him and wished him well on his journey. There was ...

World View: Compromise is no longer feasible, and the army controls the levers of power. But can its victory be conclusive? By Patrick Cockburn August 18, 2013 " Information Clearing House - " The Independent " - All parties in Egypt have overplayed their hands in the two and a half years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. In the first months it was the army high command deceiving itself into believing it could marginalise those demanding radical democratic change. Then it was President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood interpreting a narrow electoral victory as a mandate to rule alone. With the overthrow of Morsi by the army on 3 July and the massacre of Muslim Brotherhood followers on 14 August, the Egyptian army is gambling that it can win an outright victory and crush the Brotherhood, eliminating it permanently from Egyptian political life. Too ...

Stating the Obvious - Facing the Facts Politicians Lie By Mazin Qumsiyeh August 18, 2013 " Information Clearing House - There is no way to say this truth nicely: Politicians lie.  That includes Japanese, American, Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian politicians! Is there something more common sense than that?  Yet, so many citizens around the world believe their own politicians or wistfully acknowledge lies but think it is part of the job needed to run things.   They believe even when politicians contradict themselves blatantly.  This phenomenon is rather remarkable.  It is a dissonance and disconnect from reality that many seem oblivious to.  It is very dangerous because it can lead to accepting rationales for going to war.  These can be deadly wars that lead to millions of lives lost as happened in what was called World War 1 and WW2.  Even when incredible and declassified evidence abound, politicians continue to lie and old myt...

By Robert Fisk July 27, 2013 " Information Clearing House - " The Independent " -   Aiman Husseini was lying by the wall. Khaled Abdul Nasser had his name written in black ink on his white shroud just to the left of the door. There were 37 corpses in the room. It was swamped in blood. The doctors had blood on their shirts. It wasn't long before we had blood on our shoes. There were ribbons of it, dark brown, where they brought the stretchers in, even on the walls. The hospital next to the Rabaa mosque was packed with men and women in tears. Many of them talked about God. "These people are in the sun," a doctor said to me. "They are with God. We are just in the shade." Believers all, I suppose. And the dead? Perhaps it requires a medical report to understand this many dead. Shot in the face, most of them, several i...

• Olympic double champion in stunning form again • Farah warms up nicely for world championships Owen Gibson at the Olympic Stadium The Observer , Saturday 27 July 2013 19.27 BST