The self-proclaimed state of Somaliland closed its borders Saturday as voters chose their president amid fears Islamists from neighbouring Somalia could try to disrupt the polls.

The northern territory has been more stable than Somalia since it broke away in 1991 but a message warning voters to stay home by the leader of the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab movement drew draconian security measures.

“All our country’s forces are locking the borders. Movements and transport inside Somaliland are also forbidden except for those authorised by the national election commission (NEC),” police chief Mohamed Saqadi Dubad said.

The News:
http://somalilandpre … ognition-hopes-16624

Somalia’s Al Qaeda-inspired al-Shabaab warned voters in the northern self-proclaimed state of Somaliland not to vote in the presidential elections, in an audio message obtained by AFP Friday.

“Those who take part in those so-called elections will face the consequences,” Ahmed Abdi Godane, the overall leader of the al-Shabaab group, said in the message released ahead of Somaliland’s Saturday polls.

Godane, also known as “Abu Zubayr” and a native of the Somaliland capital Hargeisa, said the elections were organised by the anti-Islamic forces in Somalia.

Somaliland’s presidential polls, which were delayed three times since 2008, are due to go ahead on Saturday, 50 years to the day after the territory obtained its independence from Britain.

The News:
http://somalilandpre … aliland-voters-16627

Anna Politkovskaya was killed in her condominium in Moscow on October 7 2006. In her computer had another article against Ramzan Kadyroy, man that today is president of Chechnya.

For seven years the journalist wrote about this little republic of Russia Federation such as a black hole of conscience, where rapes, tortures and massacres were normal for soldiers and militias.

«A place - sustained - where many can do what they want and others have to accept it. Russia continues to permit that exist a place of country where civils rights don’t exist. It is a very risky choice» («A little corner of hell», Rizzoli 2008). Four years have passed since her death. Chechnya is still that «place»?

The News:
http://www.corriere. … b-00144f02aabe.shtml

Republic of Somalia has recognized today, on May 19, officially the Republic of Kosovo as and independent and sovereign state said in a statement the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Kosovo.

In a diplomatic note addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Somalia confirms the decision of the Government of the Republic of Somalia to recognize Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state.

The News:
http://www.newkosova … vo-independence.html

The Ambassador of the Republic of Djibouti in Paris has informed the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Paris, through a diplomatic note, that the Government of Djibouti has recognized Kosovo as an independent state.

In the letter signed by the Foreign Minister of Djibouti, Mahmud All Youssouf, it states, amongst other comments, that, “The Government of the Republic of Djibouti has decided to recognize Kosovo’s independence”.

The News:
http://www.newkosova … vo-independence.html