The flurry of words of accusations, allegations and resolutions vis-à-vis their counters as concerns the registrations of persons and that of the electorate are generating more than their worth, confusing the members of the public even more. The simple question and fact of having a free and fair election is, first and foremost, to have the basic pre-requisite and indispensible national personal identification card. There is no way that an election can take place without the national IDs and becomes a free and fair one. It is this basic requirements that is used (have to be used) to acquire the right to vote. Thus, the electorate has to identify themselves at specified polling points to register themselves as potential voters. To vote without IDs or to register as voters without national ID cards is outright rigging of elections. We take to emphasize this repetitively to make it clear that what the opposition parties’ demand is indeed, directly without further substantiation, an act of undermining the electioneering process. So far, we have not seen or heard any real articulate reason that the opposition leaders have brought forth that would support their misguided campaigns of mobilizing for public boycott of the registration. We are of course confounded by their demand of foregoing national IDs for direct (only) election registration! Are they not whipping up support for rigging? Why are they refusing national IDs? Do they want to import voters? By denying the populace to have their personal indices registered is to deny the essence of nationhood, statehood or our whole essence of Somaliland. The funny thing is that even before the law on the issue is enacted, we see these misguided sentiments. The fact is that the one being formulated as per international norm provided for issuance of IDs before voter registration. The one in the lawmakers’ oven right now being baked specifies for the registration of the national ID’s within six months from commencement. Another thing is that we still are waiting for the establishment of the new NEC committee and the date of election which they then have to slate. Even before all these are done and declared do we see innuendoes that are not apt to the populace consumption. Going about the public places and sampling street political comments reveal a lot of confusion whereby people argue about what seem results of serious misrepresentations. The beating up of tribal drumbeats will surely not pay. If there are any bones of contentions then they should be ironed out through right channels. Playing tribal cards is non-starter. National ID cards are not to be confused by voter IDs. They are quite separate and it is a state’s undertaking. They are not political tramp cards and MUST not be made to be so. We should not be fooled by uncommonsensical whims which are not logical in the remotest senses. By refusing the ID cards the perpetrators of the campaigns are denying us our statehood. As for the time factor of, again their misguided phobia then let them be specified in the laws and regulations of the land. Could the Military Plane Debris washed ashore Eel Shiek be US Navy Crashed CH-53E Super Stallion chopper? By Goth Mohamed Goth The Head of Somaliland coast guards Admiral Ahmed Aw Osman has revealed that units of the coast guards have recovered debris of what resembles a crashed airplane which washed ashore in a beach near Ceel Sheik 50KM west of the port city of Berbera. The head of the Somaliland coast guards corps briefing THT reporter on the debris which washed ashore had this to say, “We have recovered what we believe was the tail section most probably the tail rudder and meters long range discardablefuel tanks which we think may be those of a crashed plane”. The Commander explained the debris was also similar to many parts and gadgets of military plane e.g missiles and they have already called in experts to discern the make, model and /or exact origins. “I would like to urge the local population not to temper with any debris which they may come across because some may be lethal or in other words may explode but a t the moment I would like to state that the entire recovered debris crushed airplane is secure and now being guarded by Somaliland coast guard”, Admiral Ahmed. According to media the THT monitor from the Associated Press published on the 1st of September, 2014 US Navy Marine Corps helicopter with 25 aboard crashed in this same vicinity of the Gulf of Aden, on the same day. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter had crashed as it attempted to land on the ship, which has a big landing deck on the back. The US Navy at the time said the crash was not the result of hostile activity, but the aircraft was transferring troops back to the ship from training in nearby Djibouti. The 17 Marines and eight Navy sailors were recovered and are on board the USS Mesa Verde, and some who sustained minor injuries were treated on the ship. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter is a rescue and search craft and is believed to have crushed the same day the American planes killed the top commander of the AlShabaab Leader Ahmed Godane. Djibouti currently hosts the biggest US. Military base in Africa at Camp Lemonier. WASHINGTON — The Navy says a Marine Corps helicopter with 25 aboard has crashed in the Gulf of Aden, but all aboard have been rescued. The 17 Marines and eight Navy sailors were recovered and are on board the USS Mesa Verde, and some who sustained minor injuries were treated on the ship. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed Monday as it attempted to land on the ship, which has a big landing deck on the back. The Navy said the crash was not the result of hostile activity, but the aircraft was transferring troops back to the ship from training in nearby
Djibouti. Djibouti boosted security since the al-Qaeda-linked militants group alShabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a restaurant in the Horn of Africa nation in May. A
Turkish national and several other foreigners were injured in the attack, which was the first suicide bombing in the country’s history. In June, the US issued a travel warning to American citizens because of
“potential terrorist threats.” The British government also advised that alShabaab plans to carry out further attacks in Djibouti and may target Western interests, reported Bloomberg. As The Christian Science Monitor has reported in 2006, “In 2002, more than 1,500 US troops were sent to this former French colony in East Africa to hunt followers of Al Qaeda throughout the region. Now, under General Ghormley, their mission has evolved to preempt the broader growth of Islamic militancy among
the area’s largely Muslim population. “We are trying to dry up the recruiting pool for Al Qaeda by showing people the way ahead. We are doing this one village, one person at a time,” says Ghormley, commander of the joint task force based in Djibouti. “We’re waging peace just
as hard as we can.” Previously East Africa has hosted an array of Islamic militant groups. In 1998, Al Qaeda bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people. The group has also tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa, Kenya, and sink oil tankers and US navy vessels in the Red Sea.