Capital Talk: Interview w/ K'naan on His Trip to Somalia
Great interview with K'naan talking about the future of Somalia.
Showing posts with label Somalia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Somalia. Show all posts
September 4, 2011
July 7, 2011
June 29, 2011
East Africa Around the Blogosphere
Greetings Azanian Sea readers,
It has been a minute since I've been in the blogging game as I had responsibilities to take care of on the home front (like finishing graduate coursework at Northwestern). But I'm back, and I hope to get back to blogging and commenting on religion, politics, culture and history in East Africa this summer, while I wade deeply into another round of Intensive Arabic in Amman, Jordan. Things are relatively quiet here, but the Syrian border is closed, Egypt and Sudan are poised for major transitions in governance, there is still unrest in Libya and Yemen and it's bizarre to think about how close we are here to the tides of revolution sweeping the region.
In East Africa, a terrible drought is sweeping the Horn of Africa. In an already destabilized region, the prospect of no rain until September could have catastrophic results for the ability of many residents to eke out a living above the margin of survival. The big question is: how much does climate change play a role in this emerging crisis? Droughts are not new in East Africa, and the region was hit hard in 2006. But the cycle of drought seems to be quickening, as Daniel Howden writes, "At the beginning of this decade the rains failed every other season and what we now see is 'perennial drought'." Climatologists and others have been warning of this situation for quite some time, but it now seems to be approaching a crisis.
The drought is likely to intensify water conflicts in the region, as well as political conflict over other resources like grazing grounds, fuel, and arable land.
February 22, 2010
Great Blog About Politics in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa
My friend and colleague Alex writes about contemporary politics in Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Ethiopia and Somalia, to name a few. If you are looking to up your game as far as African politics go, his site is a great resource.
January 27, 2010
(Faustine's Baraza) K'naan Song Chosen as World Cup 2010 Anthem
A song belonging to the Somalia-born artist who now resides in Canada, K'Naan, "Wavin' Flag" has been chosen as the anthem song for the 2010 World Cup.
The tune will be released in 150 countries and played during every match of the month-long tournament due to starts on June 11 in South Africa.
January 17, 2010
November 4, 2009
September 1, 2009
Ten Dead in Yemen Boat Smuggling Tragedy
Ten dead in Yemen smuggling boat tragedy
(AFP) – 5 hours ago
GENEVA — Ten people drowned and six others are missing, feared dead, off the coast of Yemen when two boats trying to smuggle 86 people from Somalia ran into difficulties, the United Nations Refugees Agency said on Tuesday.
A first boat smuggling 44 people from war-wracked Somalia capsized early on Saturday "when the smugglers began to push the passengers overboard into the waters off the coast of Yemen," said Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the UNHCR.
Thirty-four people made it to shore, while seven bodies were recovered and three other people are still missing.
Of another 42 Somalis who travelled on a second boat, only 30 made it to shore, while three drowned and three others are missing. The remaining six are reported to have stayed onboard with the smugglers.
In the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the interior ministry said on its Internet website that the corpses of seven Somalis, including those of two women, were washed ashore on the Yemeni coast. They were later buried after the UNHCR had been informed.
Conflict, famine and drought have pushed thousands of people to attempt the risky sea voyage.
The UNHCR said some 17 boats carrying 835 people arrived in Yemen in the past five days alone, while between January and August, 36,000 Africans arrived, up 33 percent from a year ago.
In 2008, 50,091 people arrived in Yemen on smugglers? boats, but some 590 people drowned and 359 others are missing at sea and presumed dead.
In August, 2,675 Somali refugees, including 1,000 women and hundreds of children, arrived in Yemen, according to the Yemeni interior ministry website.
Yemeni security authorities said the influx of Somalis fleeing their troubled country continues, with their number exceeding a million, which is "beyond Yemen's capacity", the ministry said.
It called on the international community to "stand by Yemen to face this humanitarian crisis".
August 24, 2009
Somalia's President Calls for Ramadan Ceasefire
President calls for Ramadan ceasefire
Somalia's government has called on warring parties in the conflict-torn horn of Africa nation to stop fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a spokesman for the presidency said yesterday.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, said the ceasefire call was motivated by the need for peace during the religiously significant month.
"The president made this call since it is necessary to not stop people going to Islamic centres, worship Allah any time without fear, and we hope the opposition will accept it without condition," Abdulkadir Osman told Reuters by telephone.
Opposition groups said they would discuss the ceasefire call.
The President's U.N. -backed government has been facing a stubborn insurgency from the al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam rebels, dashing hopes of an end to 18 years of instability.
Western intelligence says the fighting and chaos is exploited by al Qaeda linked groups, exposing the entire region.
On Saturday clashes continued, as insurgents attacked a government-controlled Mogadishu checkpoint in the early hours.
"Al Shabaab men have attacked our positions in Ex-Control Afgoye (checkpoint). We repulsed the attackers and killed more than 10 men," Abdifatah Shaweye, deputy mayor of Banadir, told Reuters by telephone
Al Shabaab's information office denied the claim and said they took control of the base and killed nearly 10 soldiers from the government side.
Al Shabaab also said they had agreed to work together with Hizbul Islam fighters in the South Western region of Gedo.
"We had agreed to join all our forces and take orders from one command. The number of Hizbul Islam fighters (who) joined us are in the hundreds," Commander Bare Adan Khooje told Reuters.
About 100 people died last week in different parts of the country as pro-government militias and insurgents engaged in various battles.
July 14, 2009
Spatial Analysis of Somali Pirate Activity (Reuters)
Click the Title to go the Report on the Reuters website.
This report contains a detailed spatial analysis of the dramatic upsurge of pirate activity in 2009, focusing on changes in attack locations within the Gulf of Aden, changes in the attack success rate by month as well as on the unprecedented expansion of attacks in the Indian Ocean.
Pirate Incident Reports: ICC-IMB, ONI
IMO, NATO, Garowe Online & MSC(HOA)
GIS Data: NASA, USGS, UNOSAT
KEY FINDINGS:
- The overall pirate hijacking success rate for 2009 (vessel hijackings / total attacks) is currently at 23%. This is significantly lower than
the average in 2008 of 40% and is likely due to the increased naval patrols and heightened security practices of the merchant vessels in
the Gulf of Aden.
- Despite this relative decline in the pirate success rate, there is an alarming increase in the absolute number of pirate attacks and an
unprecedented expansion of pirate activity in the Indian Ocean, constituting a new phase of Somali piracy.
- There have been a total of 19 successful hijackings and 81 reported pirate attacks in 2009, an increase of over 650% from the same
period last year. If this attack rate is sustained, it will easily surpass the record number of attacks (115) in 2008 and could climb above
200 attacks in 2009.
June 15, 2009
February 28, 2009
K'naan Live at Millenium Stage
Excerpts from an interview by Clayton Perry on BlogCritic Magazine.
Pictures from the Kennedy Center Performance, February 26, 2009
Having traveled the world, you have an international view of hip-hop that a lot of people don't have, for better or worse. Is there a common thread of themes that transcends all continents that you have seen as you travel?
Yeah, there is. There are differences, too. I look at hip hop or any other kind of thing whatever it is — music or otherwise — and I just think you can exhaust that theme no matter what it is. As good as hip hop is, if there is no perspective shift, if there is no feeling of freshness or something new about it, it can kind of just become exhausting. When you go abroad and you see something fresh, it's eye-opening and it's beautiful. The one American perspective that we are all exposed to and the only one that exists is kind of exhausting. However, to the credit of the American form of hip hop, it's great that it is the one-track-minded element that it is, as well, because sometimes in the foreign world you find a corny element, too, that I can't listen to either. You find it rarely — the thread — but you find it. Sometimes it's great and fresh and not corny.
Do you think there will ever be a day when the lines between the labels of mainstream and conscious hip hop would be blurred?
Well, I don't know. I think that's dependent on what success the albums have. For example, my latest album is exactly what that is, but its success will be viewed on how it reaches people. Troubadour has incredible hook-based, melodic music. And lyrically, it's relevant. It has potential to be on the radio, so I don't understand why you can't do both. I think that is the answer to that question – not the only answer, but I certainly think that's one of the answers. It just depends on success.
At what point did you realize that your music had really made an impression upon people?
In 2008, I was playing a string of festivals in the US and I did a show in Honolulu. The turnout was so amazing! The organizers said they had to open up the back of the tent, which is something they never had to do before. At some point in one of my songs, I was singing to this crowd of thousands and I remember about 70% of the crowd singing along. It was amazing, because I haven't had any albums released in the US, at least not widely. I had no radio support, nothing like that. So I didn't understand how they knew the lyrics. It was a real pleasant and incredibly exciting and surprising moment. So much so, I stopped singing in the middle of the show and just started laughing. My band mates were laughing. The crowd didn't know what was going on. I said, "Excuse me, but I just want to ask how you guys know the song." People started cheering and whatever. It was a genuine moment for me, to actually take that moment and realize it and respond to it.
Over the years, you have mentioned three artists as major influences in your career: Bob Marley, Tracy Chapman, and Nina Simone. Of these, tell me how one has impacted your life and shaped your career.
I'll take Bob Marley. I think the amount of impact Bob Marley has had on humanity – just what he's sown and how many generations it has changed and how many people it has raised and how many kinds of causes it has fulfilled – I think that is, like, way more than any musician has ever been in the history of music I think. For me, that is one of the great things about life – we have the privilege to live under the banner in which he's created this music and this ideology and his relentless kind of spirit of justice and so on. I see myself as someone who is a humble student of that world. To have a connection to his world, in a way, for me is incredibly humbling. To have recorded my album in his house and work with his family, his friends and so on is a big thing for me.
When did you first fall in love with hip hop?
I had a crush on it from the early stages when I was much younger and listening to Eric B. and Rakim. That world – it was just a crush, infatuation. But when I really fell in love with it and became inextricable from my life was 1993 when the album Illmatic by Nas came out.
What did you admire the most about Illmatic?
I am a poet by nature, and I saw poetry in what Nas was doing. And I saw that a young black man can express and share the incredible intricacies of his own life and out of all the things that surround him. He painted the American black experience and the ghetto experience in such a vivid manner that I thought if that was possible in the English language, then it is possible for me to do that with the English language and paint the African experience.
Read more...November 19, 2008
Piracy in the Indian Ocean
Somali 'pirates' have been in the news, and the media is of course treating the story with typical poor reporting (except for al-Jazeera, may its house increase). Like they refer to the main boat that these Somalis launch raids from as "the mothership" like these people are some Borg-like other race. Anyway, the ship boardings and kidnappings have intensified over the past weeks.
I have this sinking feeling that 'piracy' is gonna be the new catchword on par with terrorism, thus transforming what is basically an act of economic desperation into an act with connotations of preying on innocents. Folks, these are OIL TANKERS, ok, not little fishing vessels. Why else do you think these 'pirates' are boarding them? There is MAD multinational DOUGH involved! These are ex-fishermen who've been getting royally F--KED by the world economy--basically its open season for international fishermen off the coast of Somalia, since the non-existent Somalian government is unable to defend, patrol, or even assert its rights to its own coastal waters. I mean isn't it also piracy to trespass in another nation's coastal waters?
Sorry, its late, I had to rant...What do you think?
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