At Stamford Bridge

Carlo Ancelotti chose fine wine rather than fine words to illustrate the scale of his satisfaction with Chelsea’s savage statement of title intent. The toast, presumably, was Frank Lampard.

Ancelotti passed up the opportunity to expand on Chelsea’s 7-1 mauling of Aston Villa, a handy help to their potentially decisive goal difference after firing five past Portsmouth on Wednesday.

Ray Wilkins, the ever-engaging stand-in spokesman for a silent Ancelotti, said: “Carlo deserves a rest. He’s having a nice glass of red.”

Villa boss Martin O’Neill looked more in need of smelling salts than Sauvignon after one of his most embarrassing days as a manager – but it was the wonderful Lampard who deserved to have the corks popping after placing himself in the Stamford Bridge Hall of Fame.

Chelsea’s main priority was the win they needed as a lever to exert more pressure on Manchester United in the title race. The personal honours, however, go to Lampard and he deserves to be in the spotlight.

Lampard’s four goals sent him ahead of Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood and into third place in the all-time Chelsea goalscoring charts with a total of 151 goals. Only Kerry Dixon and Bobby Tambling are now ahead of Lampard.

The mere mention of those legendary names provides glowing testimony to the record of this remarkable midfield goalscorer, who has repaid the £11m fee Chelsea handed to West Ham United in June 2001 several times over.

Any striker would be proud of Lampard’s statistics, but a player who achieves this feat from midfield demonstrates a special talent. It was fitting that Lampard started and finished the goalscoring in a display that suggests reports of Chelsea’s demise in the race to win the Premier League might just be exaggerated.

And it was all done without the rested Didier Drogba, who was still able to indulge in some grandstanding with the delirious Stamford Bridge crowd as the goals flew in over his shoulder during a touchline warm-up.

“Didier, Didier What’s The Score?” was the question. He knew the answer – but Stamford Bridge also knew that his name would be among the first on the team-sheet for the potentially pivotal visit to Manchester United next Saturday.

Wilkins, an authority on what it takes to flourish in midfield at the highest level, said: “Frank is world class. We have a number of players who you would say are, or are very close to, world class. When you see the goals Frank has scored, and the level he has played to, then you have to say he is world class.

“He has the ability to get forward but also the ability to get back and defend. He is the same in training every day. He trains exactly the same as he plays, and if there are any young kids listening to what I am saying about Frank, then this is the example to follow.”

Lampard, incredibly, is still an acquired taste for some supporters – not at Chelsea it should be stressed – with many still questioning his right to a place in England’s World Cup team.

This is nonsense, of course. In a season where, and he may even admit this himself, he has not been quite at his best, Lampard remains a potent force – 21 goals in all competitions this season provides the hard evidence.

Lampard was helped by Ancelotti’s slightly tweaked formation, which suited him perfectly. Nicolas Anelka shone as the lone striker in Drogba’s absence, despite not getting on the scoresheet.

Ancelotti employed Joe Cole and two-goal Florent Malouda on the flanks, giving Lampard and Deco room to manouevre.

Yuri Zhirkov also played his part. And while the Russian’s defensive deficiencies were exposed by John Carew’s equaliser that gave Villa false hope, his attacking touches were outstanding as he was the victim of fouls for Lampard’s two penalties and also created the crucial third goal for Malouda.

Salomon Kalou was Chelsea’s other goalscorer as Villa ended beaten, bedraggled and a side that could barely wait to drag themselves away from Stamford Bridge. They looked humiliated – and so they should.

And on an afternoon of Chelsea landmarks, John Terry was able to celebrate his 450th appearance for the club – plus outstripping the mighty Ron “Chopper” Harris by captaining the club for the 325th time – with a win of some significance.

When Chelsea responded to deserved defeat against Inter Milan in the Champions League by only drawing at Blackburn Rovers, a sense of gloom appeared to enveloping their season.

Villa could hardly be placed in the same bracket as Mourinho’s Inter, but 12 goals in two games against Portsmouth and a side supposedly chasing a place in the top four states emphatically that there is still life in Chelsea’s title bid. And as a platform for the game at Old Trafford, this was built on solid foundations.

United’s impressive response at Bolton may have taken some of the lustre off Chelsea’s celebrations, but the way Stamford Bridge greeted news of Birmingham’s late equaliser against Arsenal was an indicator that they feel battle for the Premier League is very much joined.

Chelsea, for a team you could stake your mortgage on for reliability in recent seasons, have shown an inconsisent streak this season – but when they get it right they are hard to live with, as Villa found out.

O’Neill did not mince his words, describing the outcome as “as devastating as I have had in the game.” And for a manager who habitually, and understandably, talks up the talents of his players, he was scathing.

To suggest professional footballers have not tried, or given up when the game is beyond them, is a charge that should not be made lightly and must only be offered up sparingly.

Villa may have been at Stamford Bridge in body for the last 30 minutes, but they were not there in mind and spirit, so we should let O’Neill describe it when he says “at 3-1 we capitulated, which is not like us.”

They have a swift opportunity to gain revenge and respectability in the forthcoming FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, but Villa looked leg-weary and numbed by this harrowing experience. It will also spark fears that they may collapse again in the manner which undermined them at this stage last season.

Football being the game that it is, we should not be too surprised if Villa turned this result on its head at Wembley – but words could not do justice to the improvement that would be required to effect this transformation.

O’Neill wisely deflected talk of the effect on Villa’s hopes of finishing in the top four when he said: “On that performance we wouldn’t finish 44th.”

The mood could not have been more contrasting among Chelsea’s players – and all the main plaudits were rightly being showered on Lampard.

Somaliland Today- The so-called spokesman for the Somali pirates that kidnapped the British couple confirmed to Ahmed Mohamed Diriye, an MP from the breakaway republic of Somaliland that Rachel Chandler had been hit by a bullet.

The spokesman, Ali Gedow, told Mr. Diriye today at 4.30pm (East African Time) that Rachel had been hit by a bullet. He did not give details of how the bullet hit the hostage.

Mr. Diriye told WARYA TV news website by phone that he asked Mr. Gedow whether Rachel was alive or not. However Mr. Gedow could not confirm whether Rachel was alive or not but said he was absolutely certain that a bullet hit Rachel Chandler and that he was on his way to where she was being held captive.

Mr. Diriye who earlier went of his way to make a passionate appeal for the unconditional release of the British couple was receiving string of calls from the captors of British couple who seem to have a great deal of confidence in Mr. Diriye.

Mr. Gedow had few weeks ago arranged for Mr. Diriye to talk to Rachel directly in the presence of the chairman of the upper house of Somaliland parliament, Suleiman Mohamoud Aden, vice-chairman of the Lower House and other Somaliland MPs.

Mr. Diriye who had made contact with the British Embassy in Addis Ababa through its representative in Hargeisa four weeks ago had not received any response up until now.

“ I told them [captors] in no uncertain terms that I have no ransom money to give them and that I had met a wall of silence from the British government,” Mr. Diriye told WARYA TV.

“I appealed to them to unconditionally release the hostages as I have already stated in my earlier appeal,” he added.

Rachel and Paul were kidnapped as they sailed their 38-foot yacht on October 22 last year by Somali pirates.

WARYA TV

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2010

The federal government argues that it is up to the executive branch, not the judicial, to decide when foreign officials deserve immunity from charges of human rights abuses filed in U.S. courts.

So what is the verdict, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked the government’s lawyer Wednesday, on Mohamed Ali Samantar? He has been sued by his alleged victims and accused of presiding over a Somali regime of repeated rape, abduction, summary execution and years-long imprisonment in solitary confinement.

“We are not addressing that here,” said Deputy Solicitor General Edwin S. Kneedler.

It was one of several dead-ends the justices encountered in oral arguments regarding Samantar v. Yousuf. The central issue of the case is not whether Samantar was responsible for torture in his native land but whether his alleged victims can now bring him to court in suburban Washington.

The matter carries great policy implications for the United States and its relations with other countries, and should stand for the principle that “one nation’s courts cannot sit in judgment of another nation’s acts,” argued Samantar’s lawyer Shay Dvoretzky.

But it also exposes a seeming conflict in Congress’s actions. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) protects foreign states and their “agencies and instrumentalities” from lawsuits, with a few limited exceptions. But the Torture Victim Protection Act authorizes lawsuits, and was passed specifically to ensure that those “who avail themselves of the protections and privileges of residency in the United States also bear responsibility for their actions, especially actions as significant as torture,” according to a brief filed by its congressional sponsors.

At the outset of the arguments, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy pronounced himself “puzzled” by the contradiction, and the resulting hearing showed he had company.

Samantar, now 74 and living in Fairfax, held several key positions in the government of Somalia from 1980 to 1990, including defense minister and prime minister. He fled the country in 1991, first to Kenya, then Italy and finally the United States. He was sued by Bashe Abdi Yousuf and four others in 2004, who alleged Samantar was ultimately responsible for the “torture and killing” of members of the Isaaq clan in a period of brutal civil wars.

Samantar denies the claims and says the suit cannot be brought because the foreign sovereign immunity law protects actions taken by those in official positions of government, even though the law is silent as to whether it protects individuals.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told Yousuf’s lawyer, Patricia A. Millett, such a reading made some sense.

“We are talking about insulating state acts,” Roberts said. “The only way a state can act is through people.”

Justice Stephen G. Breyer was troubled as well. Under Millett’s theory, he said, suing the defense minister of a country would not be allowed, but filling in the name of the individual would bypass the restriction.

But Ginsburg, the most sympathetic to Millett’s arguments, said there was an important difference. “This is a case seeking money out of the pocket of Samantar and no money from the treasury of Somalia,” Ginsburg said. “So why is the suit against the officer here equivalent to a suit against the state?”

Millett said it was clear that Congress intended to differentiate between protecting foreign governments from suits and individuals who now seek refuge in the United States.

“Individuals who do this, consistent with international law, whatever else, individuals who engage in torture and extrajudicial killing are held personally liable in Congress’s views and in the views of international law,” Millett said. “And the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act doesn’t stop that.”

The government’s position is that the FSIA does not offer individuals immunity, but that decisions about whether the lawsuits against them may move forward should be made by the State Department.

The justices were uneasy with that, as well.

“I must say that I find it much more acceptable to have the State Department say that a particular foreign country should be let off the hook . . . than I do to leave it up to the State Department whether an individual human being shall be punished or not,” said Justice Antonin Scalia.

And Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that the judge in Samantar’s case asked the Bush administration’s State Department for two years for guidance on how to proceed. An answer never came.

She worried that the government’s reading of the statute would “grind the courts to a halt.”

Source : washingtonpost

Somalia — The authorities of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia have said that the breakaway republic of Somaliland can not be recognized as an independent state, just as Israel said recently it gave identification to Somaliland administration, officials told Shabelle radio on Thursday.

Abdiwahid Abdi Gonjeh, the deputy prime minister of the transitional government of Somalia told reporters in Mogadishu that Somaliland is one of the Somali administrations in the horn of African state saying that they can not break from the other Somalis.

Mr. Gonjeh said that there is no government or group that Somaliland or the other administrations in country could identify as a self-governing state disproving statement from a spokesman of foreign ministry of Israel who said that the Jews recognizes Somaliland.

“The news form Israel is baseless propaganda. It is not also clear that news from the foreign minister of Israel. I do not know where the journalists had quoted that news,” said Abdiwahid Gonjeh.

Lastly the deputy prime minister of the transitional government Mr. Abdiwahid Abdi Gonjeh said that there was difference between the Somali government and administrations saying that a mediating process was continuing to end the divergences.

Somaliland, a breakaway republic of Somaliland had announced a self-governing state in 1991 as the former Somali president Mohamed Siad Barre’s government collapsed and since then Somaliland was seeking a recognition which was not achieved yet.

Source : allafrica

Somali pirates attack on land to free comrades

SOMALI pirates in Puntland seized food aid trucks and their drivers to obtain the release of detained comrades, officials said yesterday, in a rare land attack by the sea bandits.

The five trucks had been contracted by the UN’s World Food Programme.

The Somaliland authorities have arrested and jailed dozens of pirates from Puntland in the Gulf of Aden recently.

—

Sapa-AFP

Abusers must ‘marry’ goat

TWO young men accused of having sex with a goat in central Mozambique are facing criminal charges, and the goat’s owner is demanding they make traditional wedding arrangements.

The young men, whose names and ages were not released, were caught in the act by police and arrested outside the rural town of Mbucuta in central Mozambique. — Sapa-AFP

Bloated BBC to make cuts

THE BBC is to close down half its website, cut spending on imported American programmes and close two radio stations in an admission it has become too large .

The BBC review comes as all media are struggling to adapt to rapidly changing technology and markets and some, notably Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, are pledging to end the era of free news online. — Sapa-AFP

More hurt in aftershocks

THE number of people injured in a moderate earthquake in southwest China rose to 29 yester day as aftershocks rattled the region .

Tens of thousands of homes were damaged in Thursday’s 5.1-magnitude quake, the epicentre of which was located about 90 kilometres northwest of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. — Sapa-AFP

French pilots strike chaos

A STRIKE by French air traffic controllers has disrupted flights for the fourth consecutive day, and was made worse when some Air France pilots walked off the job to protest the airline’s cost-cutting measures.

The air traffic controllers are upset at a Europe-wide restructuring plan that would jeopardise their status as public servants. — Sapa-AP

24 die in mosque stampede

AT LEAST 24 people died during a stampede at a famed mosque in Mali’s northwestern desert city of Timbuktu. — Sapa-AFP

Iceberg risk to seas’ oxygen

AN ICEBERG about the size of Luxembourg that struck a glacier off Antarctica and dislodged another massive block of ice could lower the levels of oxygen in the world’s oceans .

The two icebergs are now drifting together about 100 to 150 kilometres off Antarctica following the collision on February 12 or 13.

Experts are concerned about the effect of the massive displacement of ice on the ice- free water next to the glacier, which is important for ocean currents.

Oxygen levels being fed into the world’s ocean currents are now changing “and the overturning circulation currents will respond to that change”, Steve Rintoul, a leading climate expert said.

Observing what happens “will…allow us to improve predictions of future climate change”. — Sapa-AP

Massacre suspects held

BOSNIAN authorities said police had arrested three suspects who allegedly took part in the systematic execution of more than 1000 Muslim Bosnians from Srebrenica during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. — Sapa-AP

In 1993, as a Minister of the Republic of Somaliland, “I was given the same office that the National Security Service interrogated me in the first night I was arrested [in 1982]. What can I say? All the demons have been exorcised from my life”. So ends, in characteristic modesty and generosity of spirit, the memoirs of Mohamed Barud Ali. The memoirs titled “The Mourning Tree – An Autobiography and Prison Memoirs” were launched on 20th February – an eventful date for the author and one which has since been commemorated in the Republic of Somaliland. The memoirs which have been published as the well chosen first book in a series titled “men and women” of Somaliland, is not just the story of a man, but also reflect the tale of a nation.

Born, in British Somaliland of the 1950s, under a tree (the Mourning Tree of the title) which was steeped in clan folklore, Barud attended one of the few elementary schools in Somaliland and joined the successive generations which left nomadic life. After independence, Barud attended the prestigious Sheikh Secondary School which was still staffed by redoubtable British teachers, and then, as one of the brightest pupils, he came to the United Kingdom for university education. With a keen eye for detail, Barud narrates amusing vignettes about the inevitable but innocent culture clashes and about the invidious racism of the 1970s seaside town “skinheads” who had never faced before young Somalis jealously guarding their honour.

I can attest to the fact that the curious incident of the “black magic” (hot pepper) powder which reduced the tough Brighton “bovver boys” into sopping jellies has gone down in the annals of UK Somaliland students’ folklore!
Unlike many other Somaliland students completing their overseas studies abroad in the 1970s, Barud returned to the Somali “Democratic” Republic, as the country was known then, at the end of 1978. By then the so called “bloodless” military coup of General Siyad Barre has already shed much blood. On his return, Barud had no choice but to go to Mogadishu “because it was the only place where there was an opportunity for employment in the country”. In 1980, however, he was lucky enough to find employment in his home town, Hargeisa, and soon a new chapter of his life unfolded.

Barud and other young professionals were concerned about the dire state of the British built Hargeisa Group Hospital. With no adequate electricity supplies, relatives of expectant mothers were asked to switch on the headlights of their cars so that midwives and doctors can deliver the babies. A voluntary committee started to improve the state of the hospital and the streets and kept the local officials apprised of their work. The dictator’s extensive security apparatus could neither countenance any voluntary welfare activities that might be seen as highlighting the government’s failings nor would it allow any meetings or gatherings of such volunteers.

The dictatorship’s idea of voluntary self help “iskaa wax u qabso” was neither organised by volunteers nor undertaken voluntarily. Barud is very characteristically modest about his role and that of his colleagues, but both the nature and symbolism of their actions to the regime, on the one side, and to the long suffering “Somalileyn” people, on the other, set in train the events that followed and are narrated in the remainder of the memoirs.

It started with a portentous nock on the door late at night in November 1981. Five fully armed National Security Service soldiers took Barud away from his home. They reassured his anxious wife “with disarming civility” that he will be back home within the hour – an hour that stretched to eight and half years! 28 other Hargeisa professionals were arrested during the ensuing months. Barud describes the torture and the inhumane treatment to which he was subjected over a period of four months. This included indiscriminate and repeated beatings, various water torture, sensual deprivation, and hunger. In their continual efforts to extract confessions, the teams of interrogators even tried to condemn Barud and the others for absurd inferences drawn for their traditional names – Barud (gunpowder in Somali); Olad (struggle); Abby (defence) and Dagal (war)! Barud retorted by pointing their other names, such as Warsame (glad tidings), Dualeh (blessed) and Madar (nourishing rain)!

On 19 February 1982, Barud was served, for the first time, with a charge sheet alleging that he committed offences under Siyad Barre’s Security Law, which were punishable by death. Barud already knew that the people accused of serious offences were executed promptly with or without short “trials” in special security courts and states that this was indeed the worst week of his life. On the following day (20th February 1982), Barud heard from his prison cell gun fire that continued spasmodically for three days. This was the regime suppressing and killing unarmed students and young people who came on the streets when they learnt that Barud and 28 other detainees were to be sentenced by the dreaded National Security Court. Young students (and others) in Hargeisa and other cities came out into streets in defiance of the might of the dictatorship, and their stones and pebbles were answered with a hail of bullets, and reportedly some artillery fire. 45 were killed and a considerable number were arrested.

The ensuing show trial of Barud and the other 28 men took only 10 hours, including a break of one hour for lunch. The lawyers brought for them from Mogadishu two days.