Schizophrenic mother who stabbed three-year-old daughter and doused body in acid to stay in secure hospital

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:04 PM on 28th October 2010


A schizophrenic mother who stabbed her three-year-old daughter to death before dousing her body in acid must stay in a secure psychiatric hospital for the public's protection, a judge ruled today.

Iman Omar Yousef, 25, was sentenced by Mr Justice Flaux after a jury ruled she unlawfully killed Alia Ahmed Jama at their home in Erdington, Birmingham.

Yousef, an asylum seeker from Somalia, was initially charged with Alia's murder but after psychiatric assessment she was ruled unfit to plead to the charge and jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were instructed to consider whether she committed the act of unlawfully killing her daughter.


The child's body was discovered by police officers who forced entry to Yousef's home in Milverton Road on February 13.

The court heard the child had been stabbed repeatedly and acid had corroded her skin, bones and internal organs.

The day before, social workers had visited the rented property amid concerns it was unsuitable for the child and questions over whether she was being adequately ‘supervised’


Grim discovery:


The body of Alia Ahmed Jama was found at this house in Milverton Road, Erdington, Birmingham

The court heard that later that evening, Yousef, a Somali asylum seeker, took the child to a police station in Birmingham city centre where she demanded officers find them new accommodation in a hostel.

After being told there was none available, the pair returned to their home in the city’s Erdington suburb on foot and by bus – the last time Alia was seen alive.

The next morning, Yousef travelled to Leicester to the home of her mother – who was immediately worried that Alia was not with her.

After Yousef told an aunt that Alia was ‘in a safe place’, her mother rang police who forced entry into Yousef’s home.

Prosecutor James Burbidge QC told the court that officers were confronted by the ‘truly shocking sight’ of the child’s decomposed body in a room thick with the smell of acid.

Mr Burbidge told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court that Alia was ‘killed swiftly’ and that knife imprints which went through the carpet, underlay and floorboards matched a ‘large kitchen knife’ type weapon.

Yousef's family told officers they had been concerned about her mental health since she arrived from the Netherlands in 2007. She had been talking to herself and had started carrying knives

Mr Burbidge told the jury that when Yousef had gone to police asking for new accommodation, she had claimed people who had ‘abused’ her in the past were trying to enter her home. She was given security advice.

But the alleged abuse was ‘entirely imagined’, Mr Burbidge added.

Legal stimulant growing in popularity says Home Office

The Yorkshire Post
Published Date: 12 October 2010
By Andrew Robinson

USE of a legal stimulant associated with immigrants could be growing in popularity among UK-born citizens, according to a report.
Khat, a vegetable stimulant that causes tooth loss, is common among Somali, Kenyan, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities, but is increasingly popular among women and young people, according to a report published by the Home Office.

Interviews with im
ADVERTISEMENTmigrant communities in Sheffield, Cardiff and London suggest that the number and variety of outlets trading khat has increased significantly over the years, partly as a result of increased immigration to the UK.

It is now being sold at car boot sales, in grocery stores, cafes, restaurants and specialist outlets.

It is sold wrapped in banana leaves, known as 'bundles', and users chew between one and five bundles in a session. A bundle costs from £3 to £5

Those interviewed said that some white people were taking up khat chewing.

One Somali said: "I have met a white truck driver and two white students who said they had exams and wanted to stay up. The driver bought about three bundles. He said he was going on a trip and needed to stay awake."

Regular users of khat reported health problems including tooth loss, stomach problems, mental health issues and sleeplessness.

Calls for a Government ban on khat were made by some of those questioned.

Somali women were particularly keen for the drug to be made illegal.

One said: "People will get back to their normal lives, look for work and help their families that they have neglected for so long."
The report concluded that few services existed for khat users, though demand for treatment was thought to be low.

It said that a ban would be welcomed by some but opposed by others.

The report says: "The issue of banning khat provoked strong views on both sides, with some people strongly in favour of a ban, whilst others would view this as an unwarranted intrusion in a long-standing cultural practice."

A 2008 Government drug strategy recommended that research be carried out into the social harm caused by khat.

It also urged consideration be given to "culturally appropriate responses" to the needs of khat users and their families.

Missing Somalis?

Harrow Times
9:27am Friday 29th October 2010

FEARS are growing for a vulnerable 14-year-old Somali girl who may be in Wembley.

Sundas Adaed went missing from her home in Acton last Friday and is known to visit Wembley, as well as Hillingdon, Hayes and East London.

She is described as black, around 5ft 4inches tall, with black afro hair and has blonde highlight in her fringe.

It is believed she was wearing blue jeans and a black coat when she went missing.

Anyone with information can contact police on 0300 123 1212 quoting missing persons reference number 10MIS042345

Crackdown on benefit cheats planned

High-tech data-tracking techniques are to be deployed in a new drive to clamp down on benefit and tax credit fraud costing the taxpayer £1.5 billion a year.

Some 200 additional inspectors are to be recruited to a new investigation service, which will see a mobile taskforce sent to high-fraud areas to check every single claim, said welfare reform minister Lord Freud.

By sharing data from different government offices and credit reference agencies, the investigation service aims to track the "muddy footprints" of professional cheats and detect the patterns of their fraudulent activities.

Lord Freud warned that no wrongful claimant will be let off under the new measures. Minor offenders will be issued with instant fines of £50 or more, while repeat fraudsters face a three-year benefit ban under a "three-strikes-and-you're-out" rule.

Investigators will also aim to seize more of the assets of those found guilty of benefit fraud.

Speaking ahead of Monday's launch of the new strategy, Lord Freud said: "Fraud and error is costing the Government and the taxpayer £5 billion a year - this is unfair and unacceptable.

"We are reforming the system and stepping up our efforts to catch the benefit and tax cheats who are stealing money which is meant for the most vulnerable people in our society.

"When people are convicted we will get back the money we are owed by introducing tough punishments and stripping the assets of criminal gangs - my message to them is that benefit fraud is a crime that just doesn't pay."

Some £5.2 billion of taxpayers' money is lost through fraud and error in benefits and tax credits each year.

Fraud accounts for £1.5 billion of this total, said the Department for Work and Pensions, with £1 billion relating to benefit fraud and £500 million to tax credits.

In line for a payout, Somali criminal who's cost us £½m

By James Slack, Daily Mail
Last updated at 1:05 AM on 15th October 2010





A Foreign criminal who has cost the taxpayer at least £500,000 in an extraordinary deportation farce will pocket a huge payout for compensation, it emerged last night.

Since arriving in Britain claiming asylum, aged 15, the Somalian has been jailed for more than a dozen crimes – including violence, burglary and robbery.

He has spent around 100 months in custody – at a cost to the public of more than £300,000.


The Somalian has spent around 100 months in custody at a cost to the public of more than £300,000. The man, who has been receiving legal aid throughout his criminal career, re-offended within days or weeks every time he was released.

He was first told he was being considered for deportation in 2001, but due to the immigration farce which the last Government presided over, officials failed to kick him out.

From 2004, when his last jail sentence was completed, to 2007, he was held in an immigration detention centre – at a cost of around £40,000 a year, to stop him fleeing. Now judges have decided that – for two months of that period – he was being held ‘illegally’. Known only as MH, he will receive a compensation payout which, in other similar cases, has averaged £16,000.

He had wanted more and appealed the case through the court system, assisted by legal aid. He is still in Britain and, given anybody facing removal to Somalia can claim their human rights will be breached, there is no guarantee he will ever be removed.

His various court cases are believed to have cost £200,000.

Last night, it sparked demands for reform of the legal aid system.


Details of the shambles emerged in papers published by the Court of Appeal yesterday.

They reveal MH arrived in the UK aged 15 claiming asylum, and was given temporary permission to stay. This expired in 1997 and was not renewed, making him an illegal immigrant. His offending career began in April 1996 with a caution for shoplifting, and quickly escalated to robbery.

After a string of convictions the Home Office served him with a deportation order in April 2004.

MH appealed but a judge said in 2005 he was ‘unlikely to desist from his pattern of offending’.

At this time, the Home Office was in the grip of the foreign prisoner crisis – which culminated in the mistaken release of 1,000 inmates without even being considered for deportation. As a result, MH was never kicked out, and remained in detention until 2007 – when he was finally released.

He then went to court claiming his rights had been violated and a judge ruled two of his months in custody had been unlawful and granted him the right to a damages payout for ‘false imprisonment’.

However MH’s lawyers went to the Appeal Court in a bid to boost the award, claiming he should have been released much earlier.

The appeal was dismissed but the decision still means MH will get compensation for two months of ‘unlawful imprisonment’.

Equality and Human Rights Commission - Triennial Review 2010 - How Fair is Britain?

The EHRC have launched their first review, download the seven hundred page report chapter by chapter by clicking here

Some snippets for your delectation:

On health:

It should be remembered that smaller ethnic groups that remain un-enumerated or hidden within larger categories, such as Somalis within the broad Black African group, may experience even worse health than the Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups.

Maternal mortality: In 2008 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern over ‘The high rate of maternal mortality among all ethnic minorities [as well as high numbers of miscarriages and stillbirths particularly of women from Traveller communities]’. Black African women who are asylum seekers are estimated to have a mortality rate seven times higher than for White women, partly due to problems in accessing maternal healthcare.

Rates of admission and of compulsory detention in mental health institutions are higher among Black Africans, Black Caribbean, mixed White/Black Caribbean, White/Black African and also Black other groups which represents an enduring and worrying inequality – a factor which may be reflected in the higher rates of suicide among young Black Caribbean and Black African men aged 13-24 years set out in Chapter 6: Life.

Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs - Khat (Qat): Assessment of Risk to the Individual and Communities in the UK.

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

1.1 Khat is a herbal product consisting of the leaves and shoots of the shrub Catha edulis. It is cultivated in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and chewed to obtain a stimulant effect.

1.2 Khat is not currently controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Two of the chemical constituents isolated when the plant is chewed, cathinone and cathine, are classified as Class C drugs under the Act.

1.3 This report considers the necessity of inclusion of khat under the Misuse of Drugs Act based on its harmfulness or other legislative changes that may be appropriate.

1.4 The report is based on a detailed scrutiny of the relevant scientific literature. It considers the current level of khat use in the UK, the health risks from using khat, and the harms to society as a consequence of khat use.

2. Background

2.1 In February 2005 the Minister responsible for Drugs asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to advise the government as to the current situation in the UK and the risks associated with khat use. This report is the basis of the Khat Working Group’s advice to the ACMD.

2.2 The ACMD is established under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act to keep under review the drug situation in the United Kingdom and to advise government ministers on measures to be taken for preventing the misuse of drugs or for dealing with the social problems connected with their misuse.

2.3 The classification of drugs, in Schedule 2 of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, is based on the harm they cause:-

Class A: (most harmful) includes cocaine and heroin.
Class B: (intermediate category) includes amphetamines and barbiturates.
Class C: (least harmful) includes cannabis, anabolic steroids and benzodiazepines.

2.4 When advising about harm the ACMD takes account of the physical harm they may cause, their pleasurable effects, any associated withdrawal reactions after chronic use, and the harm that misuse may bring to families and society at large.

3. Epidemiology

3.1 Information about the use of khat in the UK comes from reports into the communities from countries that traditionally use khat. Such reports are subject to sampling bias due the way interviewees are recruited. The largest epidemiological survey of drug misuse in England and Wales, the British Crime Survey, does not include khat as one of its reference drugs.

3.2 Most of the prevalence data comes from the Somali community. Figures range from 34% to 67% of the Somali community who identify themselves as current users of khat. The figure of 34% is from the highest power study and likely to be the most accurate figure. The wide range is due to the sampling techniques employed, males tend to report more use than females, so if the group sampled is biased toward men, the prevalence increases.

3.3 There are no published reports in the other individual ethnic communities. When ethnic communities are grouped together people reporting current khat use ranges between 37% and 60%.

3.4 Levels of khat use in traditional khat chewing countries are comparable if not slightly higher, than rates in the UK. In Somalia a large survey found 31% of respondents admitting current use. In Ethiopia this was 50%, and in Yemen 82% of men and 43% of women admitted they currently used khat.

3.5 There are no reports of khat use in the UK outside of the communities that traditionally use khat.

4. Import, export, distribution and use of khat in the UK

4.1 Approximately 6 tons of khat arrives in the UK per week, mostly by air from Kenya. The bulk of this is in transit for supply to the United States of America. The UK is a base for khat distribution to many countries, including the US, where the plant is illegal.

4.2 There is an efficient distribution network to the khat using communities across the UK. Most users buy khat at the mafresh, a meeting place where khat is bought and chewed. Mafreshi proprietors often sell soft drinks and cigarettes alongside khat. The trade in khat is a legitimate business and is quite distinct from the trade in illegal drugs.

4.3 Mafreshi are subject to health and safety requirements as they are public places where a product is sold and consumed, however many are unknown to the local authorities. They are of varying standards of cleanliness and safety. Alternatively khat is bought at local shops, in markets or via ‘mobile traders’ (people selling khat from the back of a car or van on the street).

4.4 Men are more likely to use at the mafresh and women are more likely to use at home, often alone. There is under-reporting of women’s use of khat probably as a result of the extra stigma they face.

4.5 Khat is used in bundles of approximately 250g of fresh stems and leaves; each bundle costs £3-5 (approximately £15/kg). In the United States of America, where khat is illegal, the street price is approximately $400/kg.

4.6 Most people who use khat, chew it once or twice a week. The average chewing session lasts 6 hours and usually 1 or 2 bundles of khat are consumed. A significant minority chew daily and use greater amounts per day.

5. The pharmacology of khat

5.1 Cathinone and cathine are alkaloid stimulants present in khat and are responsible for its subjective effects. Chewing is an efficient way of extracting these chemicals from the plant matter. Khat degrades with time so it must be consumed within 36 hours of harvesting.

5.2 Effects from chewing khat can be felt within 30minutes, but maximal plasma concentrations occur after about 2 hours. The time taken for the drugs to be eliminated from the blood is approximately 8-20 hours for cathinone and 25 hours for cathine.

5.3 There is evidence that khat, like other drugs of misuse, can cause the release of the neurochemical dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is thought to be responsible for the re-enforcing properties of drugs of abuse. Khat may also act on central serotonergic and peripheral adrenergic neurotransmitter systems.

6. Risks to physical health

6.1 There is evidence that chewing khat is a risk factor for the development of oral cancers. In pre-clinical and clinical studies, chewing khat leads to macroscopic and microscopic pre-cancerous changes in the buccal mucosa.

6.2 Khat has significant sympathomimetic properties. Chewing khat leads to an increase in blood pressure and may precipitate myocardial infarction. It is difficult to tease out the specific risk factor of khat for heart disease as most users also smoke tobacco during a khat session.

6.3 There is some evidence that khat affects the reproductive health of both sexes. In women it may be associated with delivery of low birth weight babies (as with smoking cigarettes), although the evidence for this is not strong. Cathine is excreted in breast milk although the impact of this is unknown.

6.4 In men there is some evidence that using khat is associated with lower sperm
motility and sperm count. Some studies report an increase in libido when using khat and others have found decreased libido with chronic use of khat.

6.5 Residual pesticide, dimethoate, has been found on khat leaves produced in Yemen. There is no published data on khat produced in other countries. Chronic dimethoate poisoning can lead to weakness, fatigue, slurred speech and lack of co-ordination.

6.6 Khat administered chronically to animals causes an increase in liver transaminases and signs of chronic hepatic inflammation. There are no studies investigating the effects of khat on the hepatic system in humans.

7. Risk of addiction and to psychiatric health

7.1 There is evidence that khat may cause the release of dopamine in the brain. Release of this neurotransmitter is thought to be important in the development of dependency on drugs of abuse.

7.2 Dependency on a drug is defined as a syndrome of symptoms related to the desire to use a drug, the control over drug use, tolerance of drug effects, withdrawal symptoms, harms from drug use and neglect of other activities of life.

7.3 There is evidence that some individuals use khat in a dependent way. However, for the majority of users this does not appear to be the case. Animals can be made dependent on khat and they will self-administer the drug in a dependent way.

7.4 There are case reports of people developing psychosis after use of khat. Unfortunately, as yet, there are few controlled studies investigating the possibility of a causal link between khat use and psychosis. Evidence points to social stress such as the effects of war on the Somali population mixed with misuse of khat can increase the likelihood of the development of psychotic symptoms.

7.5 As yet there is insufficient evidence to make a definitive statement about the risks of developing psychosis after using khat. However, in countries where khat use is widespread there is no corresponding elevation in prevalence of psychotic disorders. This suggests that khat is not a causal factor for the development of psychosis.

7.6 In common with other stimulants, users of khat often report feeling low in mood after a khat using session. However, there is no evidence that khat use is a risk factor for developing depression.

8. Risk to society

8.1 The partners of khat users often complain that their partners’ khat use is responsible for lack of input into family life, for family arguments, and leads to excessive expenditure of the family budget. It is cited as a reason for family breakdown by spouses, and there is a fear that men using excessively (as heads of the family unit) lead to isolation for their spouses and children. It is impossible to say if khat use is the cause of or the scapegoat for family disharmony.

8.2 Khat users appear to have very low levels of other drug or alcohol use. There is no evidence that khat use is a gateway to the use of other stimulant drugs, although there is however, high associated tobacco use.

8.3 Khat does not lead to acquisitive crime in the way that is evident with crack or heroin use. This may be due to its low cost and its lower re-enforcing properties.

8.4 There is evidence that administering khat to rats causes an increase in aggressive behaviour. There is only anecdotal evidence of the same response in humans.

8.5 There are several case reports of individuals using khat and driving. Khat is likely to reduce attention span whilst driving, however co-ordination appears to be minimally affected.

8.6 The khat industry is a legitimate business. There is no indication of organised criminals or terrorists being involved in the UK trade, perhaps because of its legality. However, since the USA made khat illegal there is some evidence of organised criminals becoming involved in its shipment to the USA.

9. Discussion

9.1 Existing evidence suggests that khat use is widespread in the UK among immigrant communities from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. There is no evidence of its use by the wider community.

9.2 Khat is a much less potent stimulant than other commonly used drugs such as amphetamine or cocaine. However some individuals use it in a dependent manner.

9.3 Khat use is a risk factor for oral cancers and possibly for myocardial infarction. Residual pesticides on the leaves of khat represent a health risk.

9.4 There is some evidence of an association with chronic khat use and development of psychological symptoms. However, as yet there is no proven causal association.


The full report can be accessed here.

Ban on asylum seekers taking council homes

Saturday October 9,2010
By Nathan Rao

A CITY council yesterday warned it would stop offering housing to asylum seekers to keep resources for locals.

Birmingham Council will not renew an agreement with the UK Border Agency when a five-year contract to accommodate asylum seekers ends next June, it emerged.

Councillor John Lines, cabinet member for housing, said: “Over the last year we have seen a sharp increase in the number of homeless people in Birmingham and we must help the citizens of this city first.

“With a long waiting list for homes, we really need all our properties for our people in these difficult economic times.”

He said the withdrawal of the contract would affect up to 190 homes and a similar number of families in Britain’s second-largest city.

Birmingham is controlled by a ­coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The announcement comes as the coalition Government plans sharp cuts to funding for municipal authorities.

Mr Lines denied the move had anything to do with cost saving and predicted other cities would follow suit.

He estimated 7,500 homeless people would have applied for long-term housing in Birmingham by the end of this year and said their interests should come ahead of asylum seekers.

The existing contract was about “putting hundreds of homeless ­people in bed and breakfast while asylum seekers are being given homes”.

He said: “Birmingham will continue to meet our obligation to help the Government and we will work with the UK Border Agency to help them find alternative services, possibly in the private sector, so that they can meet their objectives following the end of our contract with them.”

Last month Birmingham wrote to just under 26,000 public-sector employees warning that their jobs were at risk. As in other councils across Britain, the city is scrutinising every public service, from street lighting to nurseries for children, to help manage its falling budget.

David Cameron branded the benefit system “completely out of control” after a Somali family of asylum seekers were housed in a £2.1million mansion costing £8,000 a month.

The Prime Minister admitted being “outraged” at the lavish handouts to Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children, who moved into a property in fashionable Kensington, west London, after complaining about living in a “poorer” area. Mr Cameron told MPs the case was a vindication of a strict new £400 weekly limit on housing benefit claims.

He said the idea that a family could claim £2,000 a week for their house was “an outrage for ­people who work every day, pay their taxes and try and do the right thing for their family”.

Putney suicide woman had warned police about stalker

A woman who gassed herself in a suspected chemical double suicide had repeatedly warned police and officials that she was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend for two years.

By By Andy Bloxham and Richard Edwards
Published: 8:00PM BST 01 Oct 2010

The Independent Police Complaints Commission yesterday launched an inquiry after it emerged police and other agencies had many calls and complaints from the young woman, who neighbours said appeared “frightened”, before she is thought to have taken her own life.

The investigation will determine whether she was given proper support by officers before she locked herself in her flat in Putney with a friend, and inhaled toxic gases she is thought to have sourced on the internet.

Meanwhile, Sky News reported that the two women were sex workers, citing unidentified sources.

It is understood the woman, who has not been identified and is described as a black Somali aged about 28, first contacted police up to two years ago to complain of harrasment. She moved to a flat run by a women's charity in Putney, south west London, but was believed to have been in "recent" contact with police again speaking of her fears.

Catherine McGrath, a retired typist whose flat overlooks the property, which is run by a charity for single women, said the victim had moved in within the last few months.

"She was a very quiet and private girl. She always seemed very scared and had her windows shut and curtains closed,” she said.

"I thought I should try and talk to her, but she was always very scared, almost frightened of something."

"She looked like she had something to be afraid of. She didn't look very well.”

Another neighbour said she had fixed fabric over the windows which would permanently shield the flat from passers-by on the first day she moved in.

The bodies of the two women were found at the Putney flat on Thursday.

The other woman who died in the suspected pact is said to be a white woman of a similar age.

Investigators believe they gassed themselves after sealing doors and windows with tape.

Noises described as "like somebody doing DIY, drilling and banging" were reported coming from the flat the night before the deaths were discovered.

The block where the women died is owned by Women's Pioneer Housing, a not-for-profit organisation that provides affordable one-bedroom and bedsit properties for single women..

One neighbour said the two women were regularly seen together.

Jordan McGrath, 17, who lives opposite the flat, said the visitor seemed to be the Somalian woman's only friend.

He said: "She was very quiet.

"The one friend she was always with, that's who she died with. They were always together, and I think they have known each other for a while.

"I did hear some banging on the night that they died but I didn't think much of it because the neighbour beneath me is always making noise.

"She was very timid and shy. She never came out.

"She wasn't working that I know of because I would have seen her coming and going."

Senior police officers are also concerned that chemical suicides could become a trend.

Suicides using gas are rare in the UK but have become much more common in Japan and the US.

Internet sites on which troubled individuals can discuss and even encourage suicide have become prominent in recent months and widely criticised.

It emerged yesterday that London Ambulance Service staff have been given leaflets informing them of chemical suicide cases.

The document says the method originated in Japan and victims "have often sought information on how to do this from the internet".

The note, dated in early September advises paramedics on the signs of such an incident and gives instructions on how to manage the situation.

The number of suicides by the chemical poisoning totalled more than 1,000 last year in Japan, which has one of the world’s worst suicide rates. There have also been a wave of around 500 suicides in America in recent years

Last week the bodies of Joanne Lee, 34, of Essex, and Stephen Lumb, 35, of West Yorkshire, were found in a car in Braintree, Essex.

Police feared the incident could be one of the first chemical suicides of its type after they released a deadly gas and left warning posters.

The pair met on a suicide chatroom, sparking condemnation of sites that often encourage vulnerable people to take their lives and advise on how to do so.

News of the Putney deaths was posted on one suicide site yesterday, provoking a user to comment: "Good for them."

The bodies were removed at around 4pm yesterday after specialist fire and police teams neutralised the chemicals and made the area safe.

Samaritans chief issues warning after suspected copycat suicides

Robert Booth and Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 October 2010 22.19 BST

Media coverage of deaths is feared to have prompted women to kill themselves

The chief executive of the Samaritans said today she was "very alarmed" about a suspected copycat double suicide yesterday that may have been prompted by news of a similar incident last week.

Catherine Johnstone gave "a strong warning" about the media coverage of suicides after police were called to a flat in Putney, south-west London, where two young women were found dead, apparently from chemical poisoning.

Ten days earlier it was widely reported that a man and a woman were found dead in a car in Braintree, Essex, having killed themselves using a similar method. Police were last night treating the latest deaths as unexplained but not suspicious.

One of the women, thought to have been Somali and in her late 20s, had moved into the block of women's social housing about five months ago.

Neighbours said she was quiet and private. "She always seemed very scared and had her windows shut and curtains closed," said retired typist Catherine McGrath, whose home overlooks the third-floor flat. It was sealed off all day today with the bodies still inside.

Men in protective chemical suits came and went throughout the day and could be seen taking photographs of the scene.

Nicola Peckett, head of communications at the Samaritans, said: "We knew this was the danger, which is why we tried to clamp down with the media about the reporting."

Johnstone said the media could play a harmful role in passing on information about suicide. "Reporting can act as a catalyst in bringing the method of suicide to the forefront of vulnerable people's minds, which can result in an increase in a particular method of suicide," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Met police said the possibility that the women accessed suicide chatrooms was being explored. There is concern among counsellors at the role of largely unregulated sites in providing vulnerable people with advice on suicide. It is illegal in the UK to encourage or assist anyone to kill themselves.

Samaritans said it was working with Google and Facebook to ensure people on suicide forums had access to the Samaritans.

"One of the major factors in suicide is having knowledge and access to methods," said Paul Kelly, a trustee at suicide prevention charity Papyrus. "People who are young and vulnerable, they are at a very impressionable stage of their lives." The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission as of one of the women had been in contact with police before she died.

The Samaritans can be contacted on

0845 7909090

The Afgooye corridor: world capital of internally displaced people

The Afgooye corridor is a little-known area outside the capital of Somalia that houses the largest concentration of internally displaced people on Earth.


Now and then: satellite images of the Afgooye corridor taken in 2010 (left) and 2007 (right) highlight an increased population density. Photographs: ©DigitalGlobe 2010, provided under EC/ESA GSC-DA/ (left); ©DigitalGlobe 2007, provided under AAAS

The Afgooye corridor should be a place of infamy. But the world's largest concentration of internally displaced people is located just outside the war-torn Somali capital of Mogadishu. It is an area the world has hardly heard about.

Journalists don't go to the corridor. International aid agencies can barely reach it. The consequence is that stories of the hundreds of thousands living there are rarely told. If ever.

Once a rural area, the Afgooye corridor is now the third largest urban area in Somalia after Mogadishu and Hargeisa in Somaliland. It is the country's capital of the displaced.

Last year, when I wanted to write about conditions in the Afgooye corridor it was necessary to travel to camps in the Somaliland cities of Burao and Hargeisa to find people who had recently escaped on the trucks that ferry those hoping to escape to Galkayo in Puntland. The journey takes months for some, and can cost $300 for a family. Few have that kind of money.

They told stories of battles fought between Amisom, the African Union peacekeeping force, and the Islamist militia fighters of the Shabab inside the sprawling camps that line the road for miles.

They described the abuses of the Shabab – beatings, theft and murder – and the hunger and insanitary conditions. The Afgooye corridor's residents struggle for food and other basic necessities in a place beyond the reach of the aid agencies.

What assistance does get through is delivered by local partners but, according to the UN, the amounts are tiny in comparison with the needs. The result is that many residents are forced to risk walking into Mogadishu every day in search of a daily living.

Now, in an extraordinary project, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has used satellite imaging both to estimate how many people are living there, and to give the corridor a concrete reality.

The images of the camps have led the UN's refugee agency to estimate that the number of people living in the Afgooye Corridor is a staggering 410,000. Previous estimates, in September 2009, had put the number at 366,000.

In the last three years, since the escalation of the conflict in south central Somalia, the Afgooye corridor has grown from a few dwellings along the road between Mogadishu and the nearby town from which it takes its name, to a place of 91,397 temporary shelters and 15,495 permanent dwellings. Comparison of satellite images has revealed that substantial new construction of dwellings is continuing as people flee the fighting in the capital.

To determine the population size, UNHCR measured the habitable surface areas of every dwelling and applied different population densities to permanent and temporary structures, based on population densities from comparable areas in Somalia.

In addition to some 410,000 displaced people in Afgooye, it also estimated that there are 55,000 people in Dayniile (to the north of Mogadishu), 15,200 in the Bal'cad corridor (the northern periphery of Mogadishu City) and 7,260 in Kax Shiiqaal (the city's western periphery). The displaced population in Mogadishu itself is estimated to be around 3720,000.

The satellite images have also mapped how the settlement of the Afgooye corridor has changed over the last three years. As the population has increased, there has been a rapid urbanisation of the area, with entire new towns replacing the tens of thousands of makeshift shelters composed of cloth and fabric.

That building tells its own depressing story, reflecting how, for those living there, hopes of a safe return to the capital have faded

MI5 head warns of serious risk of UK terrorist attack

By Gordon Corera

Security correspondent, BBC News

The UK faces a continuing serious risk of a lethal terrorist attack taking place, the head of MI5 has warned.

Jonathan Evans raised concerns over the number of soon-to-be-freed inmates who are "committed extremists and likely to return to terrorist activities".

He also said Somalia and Yemen were important concerns for MI5, as a source of serious plots against the UK.

And, he said, the security service had not expected dissident republicanism to grow as it had in Northern Ireland.

Mr Evans, who made the rare public remarks to the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals in London, said dealing with international terrorism remained the main focus of MI5's efforts.


"Counter-terrorist capabilities have improved in recent years but there remains a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place. I see no reason to believe that the position will significantly improve in the immediate future," he said.


Every month, hundreds of new leads come into MI5 headquarters at Thames House from various sources, with only sufficient resources to investigate those that appeared to be high priority, Mr Evans said.

"At any one time we have a handful of investigations that we believe involve the real possibility of a terrorist attack being planned against the UK," he said.

One concern is that a number of individuals, convicted of offences in the years after the 9/11 attacks, are now coming out of prison having served their terms.

"We know that some of these prisoners are still committed extremists who are likely to return to their terrorist activities," Mr Evans said, adding that they would be added to the cases that needed to be monitored.

He said another change in recent years was the source of the most serious plots.

In previous years, officials have said that 75% of priority plots had links to Pakistan. That figure has now dropped to 50%.

This was partly because of pressure on al-Qaeda leadership operating in Pakistan's tribal areas, but it was also a sign of a diversifying threat, he said.

Mr Evans said in Somalia there were a "significant number of UK residents training in Al Shabaab camps" to fight in the country.

"I am concerned that it is only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside Al Shabaab," he warned.

'Nasty disappointment'

He said Yemen was the other main country of concern.

He said the involvement of the radical preacher Anwar Al Awlaqi in a succession of plots - and the influence of his message in the UK - had raised concerns that his adherents, possibly lone individuals, would respond by mounting attacks.

There had been a surge in Yemen-related casework this year, he said.

It is widely believed that the raising of the UK terror threat level to "severe" at the start of 2010 was largely related to intelligence surrounding Yemen.

Mr Evans admitted that when MI5 assumed the lead responsibility for intelligence in Northern Ireland in October 2007, its "working assumption" was that the residual threat from terrorism was low, and likely to go down.

Instead the opposite has happened. Mr Evans described a "persistent rise in terrorist activity and ambition", with signs of increasing co-ordination and co-operation between disparate groups in recent months.

This year there had been more than 30 attacks or attempted attacks by dissident republicans on security targets, compared with just over 20 for the whole of last year, he said.

Mr Evans also warned that while the campaign by dissident republicans was currently focused on Northern Ireland, MI5 "cannot exclude the possibility" that it might spread to the mainland.

Mr Evans also warned against a "zero tolerance" attitude to the terrorist risk, which he said was spreading.

"In recent years we appear increasingly to have imported from the American media the assumption that terrorism is 100% preventable and any incident that is not prevented is seen as a culpable government failure.

"This is a nonsensical way to consider terrorist risk and only plays into the hands of the terrorists themselves. Risk can be managed and reduced but it cannot realistically be abolished and if we delude ourselves that it can we are setting ourselves up for a nasty disappointment," he said

Drug could cause anti-social behaviour in Slough

Page last updated at 12:54 GMT, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 13:54 UK

A drug which is sold legally in Britain is causing problems for Somali families in Slough, according to a voluntary group in Berkshire.

Khat is a plant which can be chewed and is used as a stimulant by people living in Yemen and Somalia.

The Slough Somali Women's Organisation says the drug is to blame a range of problems such as truancy and anti-social behaviour in young people.

The drug is banned across America and most of Europe but legal in Britain.

Family breakdowns

Faisal Aashour is part of the Somali community in Slough and works for Berkshire Education and Sports Centre - a voluntary organisation set up by Somalis.

He said that Khat use was causing a "family breakdowns" in Slough.

"Young people overdo it," he said.

"It's a highly addictive drug used in Somalia and Yemen. Its stimulant properties are similar to but less powerful than amphetamine.

"There's a lot of Somalis who chew it in Slough."


Khat is sold openly on the streets in places like Yemen
Slough's Local Involvement Network (LINk) is now working with Daryeel, the Somali Women's Organisation, to try and warn about the dangers of the drug.

LINk has compiled a report which it plans to send to government and health bodies to spread greater awareness of khat use use.

John Kelly from Slough LINk's development office said the drug contained two worrying stimulants, cathine and cathinone, also present in the now banned drug mephedrone.

Recreational drug

"They are associated with some mental health problems if chewed in excess, and also with things like insomnia, irregular heartbeat and with this substance being chewed there are risks with public health, spitting and so on," he said.

"What we've been trying to do is spread awareness through the Somali community in Slough. It can be quite a marginalised community.

"This is mainly chewed as a recreational drug in Africa, and the problem here is with high levels of unemployment and young people getting hold of this drug and going over the top."

Sarah Graham, an expert in addiction from drugs information service Frank said that the drug contained similar chemicals to mephedrone, commonly known as meow meow, which was recently banned.

She said: "When mephedrone got banned I suspected that people would start using other substances to fill that gap. It wouldn't suprise me at all if khat becomes a drug that comes into young people's focus.

"It can create paranoia, irritability, you have a come-down and you might want to take some more."

Plot foiled at Leeds-Bradford International Airport

A drugs gang has been sentenced to a total of 25 years for attempting to smuggle £40,000 of cocaine into Leeds-Bradford International Airport.

The gang-of-four, three Somali men and a Portuguese woman, were jailed on Wednesday for the plot to smuggle 380g of the drug from Equador.

Their plan was foiled when officers from the UK Border Agency at the Yeadon airport caught drugs mule Lina Isabel Alves De Aguiar, 34, as she entered the UK on July 19 last year.

She had arrived via Amsterdam and had the cocaine hidden in her luggage, Leeds Crown Court heard.

An international investigation led to the arrest of three other gang members, all of whom were involved in the plot.

They were Ahmad Jumbe Darish, 27, a failed asylum seeker, Abdullah Omary, 28, both of Coventry, and Ahmed Farrah-Awad, 34, of Leicester.

Both Omary and Farrah-Awad were living in the UK legally.

Alves De Aguiar and Darish pleaded guilty to the offences in December last year. Omary and Farrah-Awad were found guilty following a trial in May.

Ahmed Farrah-Awad, who was central to the overall organisation of the scheme, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years as was Abdullah Omary. Ahmad Jumbe Darish and Lina Isabel Alves De Aguiar, who had previously pleaded guilty, both received five years.

The court heard how Alves De Aguiar had acted as the courier, with Darish, Omary and Farrah-Awad acting as her minders to and from the airport. Once Alves De Aguiar arrived in Ecuador Omary was involved in the transfer of money to allow her to buy the drugs.

Malcolm Bragg, assistant director for the UK Border Agency, welcomed the sentences handed down. He said: “As this case shows, those individuals behind the illegal drugs trade are unscrupulous and will readily exploit our communities out of pure greed.”

Anger at South Norwood Somali youth club members taking legalised drugs

by Dave Burke

dave.burke@essnmedia.co.uk

A bid to allow a community centre to continue to operate in South Norwood has antagonised neighbours who say youths under the influence of a legal drug are causing mayhem.

The Somaal Youth Association, which was set up to offer young Somalis in Croydon a place to come together, is hoping to be given formal permission to run its youth club and activities centre in Portland Road

But critics have accused the centre, which has already been operating for around four months, of promoting anti-social behaviour and use of the hallucinogenic drug khat - which is banned in most European countries but not the UK.

Although the Somaal Youth Association admits many members do chew khat, it denies claims of bad behaviour, and says it would be happy to meet with people who are worried about the application.

Chairman Abdi Mahamud said: "This thing is needed by Somalis, there are a lot of young Somalis who live around South Norwood.

"A lot of Somali youths are deprived of something like this, where they can come and watch football and socialise in the evenings."

Mr Mahamud, 25, feels "victimised" by the opposition.

He said: "I think people see groups of young black youths and think the worst.

"But we are looking to organise a meeting so people can come in and find out about what we're about and what we're doing.

"We want to get on well with our neighbours."

Asked about use of khat, which has been likened to ecstasy by drug experts, Mr Mahamud said: "It just makes you chill out.

"It doesn't cause anti-social behaviour. But in the long term we are trying to stop it, we don't want people to make it into a negative thing about us."

The retrospective application is expected to be decided on by Croydon Council next month.

When neighbours learned of the bid to get the centre sanctioned, it sparked a petition calling for the plans to be rejected.

Hasan Murtada, who lives nearby, said: "The petition hasn't been done for no reason, it's been done because it's a nuisance.

"We shouldn't have to put with this. My girlfriend can't even go down the shops because she is being intimidated."

Councillor Karen Jewitt, who represents the Woodside ward, is backing the residents opposing the community centre.

She said: "They've opened it up without any permission, and I've been getting loads of complaints about people using khat.

"There's a lot of people hanging around outside there.

"The one thing people are frightened of is that this will make them seem racists. That's got nothing to do with it, it's just that they're worried about this."

Sergeant Dave Humphrey, who heads the Woodside Safer Neighbourhood Team, is well aware of the centre.

He said: "We've been policing it as often as we can. Whenever we've been down there, there haven't been any problems.

"Khat isn't illegal, so there's not much we can do about that."

2 Somali men arrested during dawn drugs raid on flats

By Laura Smith - Echo News - Southend - Augu 2010

TWO Somali men were arrested in a dawn raid as police attempted to smash a drugs gang in Southend.

Officers stormed the flat in Longbow tower block, in Sherwood Way, at 7.10am yesterday to arrest the men, aged 20 and 23.

Police found a wrap of suspected heroin, a small packet of cannabis and some weighing scales.

Two passports were also found in the property, one for a British citizen born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and one with a travel visa for the UK for a Somali national.

In the bedroom, officers found a drawer full of used needles and alcohol wipes.

The raid took place as part of a crackdown on a Somali gang.

It follows a raid in Sutton Road, Southend, last month in which six men were arrested. They have all been bailed until the end of August.

Insp Leigh Norris, of Southend police, said: “The main aim was to disrupt drug-related activities that have been emanating from Longbow flats.

“We are responding to information we are receiving from residents and information we have been gathering ourselves over the past few weeks.

“Some of the residents’ lives have been made a misery because of the activity of certain residents within that block and that’s unacceptable.”

l Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 0300 3334444 or dial 999 in an emergency.

People can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

US to seek stronger ties with Somaliland and Puntland

BBC News - 25 September 2010

The US hopes the new policy will help to stem the spread of radical Islam in the Horn of Africa The US wants to strengthen its ties with Somalia's breakaway regions Somaliland and Puntland, the Obama administration's top diplomat for Africa has said.

The new, "aggressive" engagement could help to head off the Islamist insurgents, Johnnie Carson said.

But there were no plans to recognise the regions as independent states.

Mr Carson said his government would also continue to support the Somali government.


The assistant secretary of state for Africa said the US would send more aid workers and diplomats to Puntland and Somaliland and support the governments of both regions, in the north of Somalia, with development projects.

"In the past we have not engaged with these areas and political entities aggressively. We will now start to do so," Mr Carson said.

"We think both of these parts of Somalia have been zones of relative political and civil stability, and we think they will in fact be a bulwark against extremism and radicalism that might emerge from the south."

The BBC's Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the initiative represents a significant policy shift and a step away from dealing with Somalia only through the weak transitional government in Mogadishu.

Somalia has been wracked by violence for much of the past 20 years. It has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

Swathes of the country and most of the capital Mogadishu are controlled by al-Shabab, a hardline Islamist group which has admitted to links with al-Qaeda.

Somaliland declared itself independent in the early 1990s but is not internationally recognised.

SOMALI WEEK FESTIVAL 2010 - PROGRAMME

Kayd Somali Arts and Culture, in collaboration with Redsea-online, Ocean Somali and other Somali and Somaliland Communities, are proud to present the annual Somali Week Festival at Oxford House. The festival is part of Black History Month and will run from Saturday the 23rd to Sunday the 31st of October. The festival offers the best of Somali arts and culture, both old and new, presenting a mix of events including poetry, literature, drama and panel discussions.

Theme of Somali Week 2010: ‘Tradition and Modernity’
For the last two years each Somali Week Festival has been dedicated to a specific theme. In 2008 the theme was ‘Gobannimo’, a Somali word with no direct English equivalent that encompasses independence, freedom, and sovereignty and collectively bears some parallel to the concept of ‘citizenship’. Throughout the festival we sought to explore the facets of the term ‘Gobannimo’, including concepts of independence, freedom, personal responsibility. Last year, the theme was ‘Censorship’, and sought to explore the relationships between creative expression, censorship and self-censorship.

The 2010 festival will be examining the topic of ‘Tradition and Modernity’. Once more we will use a range of artistic events to look at the complex and important ideas around these concepts. A number of highly esteemed international guests will take part, including poets, writers and a playwright. Participating artists will include both those perceived to be working with more ‘traditional’ Somali art forms such as our highly-prized poetry and those expressing themselves through more ‘modern’ forms such as novels and essays. There will also be performances by and discussions with international and local artists working in other disciplines. Throughout the week, we will encourage all who take part in these events to examine their own relationship to modernity and tradition in these diverse art forms.

The 2010 festival will provide a great opportunity to meet with Mahamed Ibrahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’, Amina Abdilahi, Ahmed Saleebaan Bidde, Boon Hirsi and Ahmed Ibrahim Awali. We are also delighted to have two remarkable Somali women showcasing their latest fictional works: Yasmen Mahamud from the USA, and London’s Nadifa Mohamed. Nadifa will be present to discuss her book, Black Mamba Boy, and Yasmeen will introduce her work, Nomad Diaries.

This year we are proud to host the first-ever collaboration between the London-based music collective The Grand Union Orchestra and a range of Somali musicians during the festival. We hope you will join us and enjoy the festivities throughout the week!



SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Saturday, 23rd October
Launch, Poetry & Discussion
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Fee: £10
This year’s festival will be opened by the Deputy Mayor of London after which the theme will be introduced by Mahamed Ibrahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’, one of the greatest living Somali poets. Hadrawi will be joined by the renowned lyric composer and playwright, Ahmed Saleban Bidde, who will narrate some of his work, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. The evening will conclude with another of our visiting artists, Amina Abdilahi who is a remarkable female contributor to Somali performing arts.


Sunday 24th October
Togdheer Abroad Foundation Workshop
1:30pm - 3:30pm
(FREE)
Togdheer Abroad Foundation (TAF) is a registered charity, founded in 2005 by a group of young Somalilanders living in the UK. It aims to bring young Somalilanders together to make a shared and collective contribution in empowering the most disadvantaged groups in Somaliland. TAF believes in the philosophy of “every little helps” and fosters a self-reliant approach. The membership of TAF has increased from a few to over 180 members in seven different cities in UK and is still growing today. This workshop will focus on the history of the charity, its structure and committee. We will discuss on-going projects in connection with Mandhaye Mental hospital. This conference will be an opportunity to discuss future aspirations with its members as well other interested members of the public. Main speakers will be Suldan Mahamoud Haji Hussein, Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame (Hadraawi), Dr Abdilahi Bikolo.

Family Entertainment: Children’s Day
3:30pm – 6:00pm
Fee: £2
Family and children’s day will showcase young and talented performers such as Abdi Bahdoon (aka Book of Rhymes) and Samira Ali. The afternoon will also be packed with exciting children’s activities such as entertainment by clowns from Magic For All Occasions and Somali traditional storytelling by Ismail Aw-Aden. We are also pleased to announce that Saynab Dahir will introduce her new language learning book: Daadah: Learn Somali Book 1. This book is the first in the series, part of a well structured, programme of study, which has been designed to teach the skills of reading and writing Somali to learners from a broad age range. Bring your children along to this wonderful fusion of poetry, clown performances, children’s stories and language support.

A Day of Pure Poetry
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Fee: £5
A day of pure poetry with interviews and Q&A will feature two well-known poets and composers Hadraawi and Ahmed Saleebaan Bidde from Somaliland along with our own Asha Mahamuud Yuusuf “Asha Luul”, Abdirahman Abees and others.
Chair: Rashid Gadhwayne.


Monday, 25th October
Book Presentation and Panel : Marginalisation and Social Exclusion of the ‘Gabooye’
6:00pm - 8:00pm
FREE (ENGLISH)
This session will tackle one of the major issues facing contemporary Somali society starting with a discussion of the new book Hiil or In defence of (Hayb-sooco) by Hassan Abdi Madar. Published by Redsea.online/Ponte Invisible, this book addresses the marginalisation and social exclusion of the ‘Gabooye’ communities. Discussions will touch on concepts of citizenship and human rights and the tensions between those committed to a conservative adherence to tradition and those pushing for change in Somali society.
Panel participants: Said Jama Hussein, Sheikh Mahamoud Sheikh Dalmar, Yasmin Mahamoud and others.
Chair: Nadifa Mahamed.

Monday, 25th October
Book Presentation and Panel: ‘Environmental Crises’
8:00pm - 10:00pm
FREE (ENGLISH)
This session will present Ahmed Ibrahim Awale’s debut book, Qaylo-dhaan Deegaan/Environment Crises, a collection of essays in Somali and English, which focus on the Somali environment. It is published by Ponte Invisibile (redsea-online.com). Following a presentation by the author, there will be a roundtable discussion on the environment and the effects of climate change.
Panel participants: Ahmed Ibrahim Awale (the author), Mohamoud Ibrahim (Secratary of the Somali Ecological Society), and others.


Tuesday 26th October
A play: Utub Jacayl
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Fee: £10
An evening with Utub Jacayl (Child of Love), this play is written by London-based playwright, Ali Seenyo. He will be expanding on the ideas of the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’ in terms of migration, love, clan revenge and family disputes with humour and a musical performance. This will be a hugely entertaining event, with a cast of Nimco Yasiin, Jookhle, Faynuus, Ceerigaabo, Xananteeye, Bacado, Abdikariim Raas and others.


Wednesday 27th October
Women’s Literature
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Fee: £5 (ENGLISH)
We are proud to present significant developments in internationally published writing in the works of two Somali women authors: Yasmeen Mahamud (U.S.A.) and Nadifa Mohamed (U.K.). This session will discuss Nadifa’s recent book, Black Mamba Boy (published by Harper Collins) and Yasmeen’s The Nomad Diaries (published by Lamp Post Publications). Written in English, each of these publications connects well with both Somali and non-Somali audiences. After their presentations (in English), we will enjoy performances from London-based Somali female musicians, including Nimco Yasin and Nimco Degan.
Panel participants: Nadifa Mohamed (Author), Yasmeen Mohamud (Author)
Chair: Quman Jibril

Thursday 28th October
6:00pm – 7:30pm
Anglo-Somali Society Event
FREE (ENGLISH)
The Anglo-Somali Society will hold a public meeting featuring Ibrahim Isse and Mohamed Aden of the Somali Youth Forum, speaking on Somali educational achievements. The poet Bootaan will then present some of his contemporary and London-focused poems with Rob Inglis providing English versions.

Panel Discussion: ‘Somaliland: What Next?’
8:00pm - 10:00pm
FEE: £5 (ENGLISH)
The Republic of Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991, after a brutal war resulted in the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic. Somaliland has since embarked on a home-grown process of bottom-up reconciliation and statebuilding, and successfully held elections for the head of state, the lower house of parliament and local councils. However, it has yet to receive international recognition. This session, co-organized with Somaliland Focus UK, will offer perspectives from leading academics and activists discussing, ‘Somaliland: What next?’.
Panel participants: Dr. Anna Lindley (SOAS, Author: The Early Morning Phone Call: Somali Refugees’ Remittances), Dr. Michael Walls (UCL), Mark Bradbury (Author: Becoming Somaliland), Dr. Mohamed Rashiid Sheikh Hassan (Candidate for vice president for UCID Party) and others.
Chair: Steve Kibble


Friday 29th October
The Culture and Arts of Djbouti with Boon Xirsi
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Fee: £10
This evening will focus on the art and literature of Djibouti. Our London-based Djiboutian artists such as Kaltuun Ba’adi, Hananteeye, and Anab Ismail will be accompanied by the great comedian Boon Hirsi; who is visiting as for the first time.
Chair: Maxamed Baashe Xaaji Xasan


Saturday 30th October
Literature Day
2:00pm - 6:00pm
Redsea-online.com Cultural Foundation, in collaboration with Somali Week Festival, present a day of literature, featuring a series of new books published and distributed by Ponte Invisibile (redsea-online.com). We will invite Somali authors to present and read from their work and to be available to meet informally with the audience. Authors include Rashid Sheikh Abdillahi ‘Gadhwayne’ (Adduun iyo Taladii) and Yuusuf Cabdille Cisman ‘Shaacir’ (Tolow Colka Jooja Maansadii Salaan Maxamed Xirse Salaan ‘Carrabay’).
Adduun iyo Taladii examines the essence of citizenship and is the third book in the Curisyo series. Adduun iyo Taladdii is a collection of essays which cover a plethora of topics, yet all share the spirit of citizenship. This book enlightens the reader on various subjects, focusing particularly on the foundations of society, exploring the themes of freedom, tolerance, righteousness, equality and the normative, ethical and moral bases as seen from a Somali perspective. It is a work which is inspired by Rashid Sheikh Abdillahi’s own great sense of social responsibility.

Tolow Colka Jooja (Presenting the Legendary Somali Poet Salaan ‘Carabey’): Yusuf Shaa’ir is a well known poet and collector of poetry. In this publication, Tolow Colka Jooja, he presents the fascinating life and poetry of the legendary Somali poet Salaan ‘Carrabey’. The masterpieces presented in this collection include Tolow Colka Jooja, Abaal-Laawe (Afku wuxuu la xoog yahay) and Lukaansi. The ‘Sooyaal Series’, of which Toloow colka jooja is the second book, aims to collect and preserve classical Somali literature. The first publication in the series, published last year, was Suugaanta Nabadda iyo Colaadda (Anthology on War and Peace), edited by Rashiid Sheekh Cabdillahi ‘Gadhwayne’.

Other books to be presented include Bangiyada Islaamka by Said Ali Shire (Buuh publications); Isbar aqoonta kombiyuuterka (Ponte invisbile – redsea-online) presented by Abdalle Osman Shafey, Garta Dhaqanka by Cabdisalaan Maxamed Xirsi ‘Caara-dhuub’; The Mourning Tree by Mohamed Barud Ali (Ponte invisibile - redsea-online), and Daadaah: Learn Somali Book 1 by Saynab Dahir among others. The literary day will be coordinated by Jama Musse Jama, founding president of Redsea-online.com Cultural Foundation, and Editor in chief of its publishing arm, Ponte Invisibile.

Saturday 30th October
Fusion Night: Music, Fusion and Film Documentaries
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Fee: £5
At this fusion event we will present the Somali fashion stylist, Normode, with the theme around ‘How to be a proud Somali and look modern!’. We will also show two short documentaries: Jannaalle produced by Sahan and another discussing youth and citizenship in Somaliland produced by Arten. The evening will conclude with very special live music: a collaboration between the London-based music collective The Grand Union Orchestra and a number of Somali musicians and vocalists, including Abdifataah Yare.

Sunday 31st October
Halabuur Members Share Their Talent!
2:00pm - 6:00pm
Fee: £5
This event will bring all visiting artists together in a showcase of their work along with UK-based artists from Hal-abuur members including Saado Isse Isman, Mawliid Adan Aydiid, Qolqol, Faysal Awcabdi Ambalaash, and Abdi Good Abees. This event will also provide a great opportunity to meet with very special guests, Mahamed Ibrahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’, Ahmed Saleebaan Bidde, and beloved singer and performer Amina Abdilahi. Everyone will have the opportunity to relive many of the highlights from week and audience members will have a chance to ask the artists questions about their work.
Chair: Cabdillaahi Cawed Cige
Music, Music and Music
6:00pm - 10:00pm
Fee: £10
We will conclude the 2010 Somali Week Festival with musical performances from Aar Maanta, Ikraan Arale and Amina Abdilaahi.