Ali Mohammed Gedi is the Prime Minister of Somalia. Right now Somalia has a transitional federal government.
On June 3, 2007 terrorist used a suicide car bomb that heavily damaged his house, and killed seven of his bodyguards and a few civilians. Two suicide bombers blew up their pickup truck which was packed with explosives outside the gate of Gedi’s Home.
Prime Minister Gedi has called on the international community to help Somalia to fight the terrorists. He said “And the Somali troops supported by the Ethiopian and AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) will wipe out the terrorist. Terrorists will have no heaven in our country.”
Police arrived at the scene, but they were not much help. They fired their guns in every direction and killed five civilians and wounded five others.
All business was closed down; government troops were everywhere. “They are firing shots into the air. We are terrified,” said Aabdi Ussein a shopkeeper Bakara.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The House in Pyote
In the early part of 1943 my father got a job cutting hair in the new air base near Pyote Texas. My mother, little brother and I followed him to Pyote a few weeks later. I was eight years old and my brother was four.
Pyote was a small western town on Highway 80 just below the southeast corner of New Mexico. The Southern Pacific Railroad tracks ran along the north side of the highway and the businesses were lined up on the other side. The buildings were all made of wood; some of them were made of wooden frames covered with corrugated iron. There were no concrete sidewalks in town; all it had were board-walks.
The days of the old western saloon were over, but the town had two pool halls which were pretty much the same thing. It had a drug store, two grocery stores, a dry goods store, a movie theater, a cafe, a bus depot and a few other businesses.
The law was enforced by a deputy sheriff who wore a six shooter, cowboy boots, a western shirt and big hat. Everyone called him "Tom the Sheriff."
Dad had rented an old two room house that had been abandoned, but now because of the war it was in demand. To say that Mom did not like the house was a vast understatement. It was infested with roaches, spiders, centipedes and mice. The wall paper was torn from the walls in large areas and we could see daylight between cracks in the walls. The linoleum on the floor was a horrible mess.
At night we could hear insects crawling between the wall and loose wall paper. If some one turned on a light at night we could see dozens of roaches on the floor; they quickly scampered under the base boards. For some reason the centipedes liked the bathroom shower. Several times when I went to take a shower I had to call Mother to come and kill a centipede that was crawling on the wall.
The windows would never close completely and when we had a sandstorm, which was often, the and would come through the windows and cover the kitchen table, kitchen cabinet, the floor and everything else.
Talk about being noisy! Airplanes were taking off and flying over our house all hours of the day and night. Troop trains were constantly coming through town. At night we could hear the whistles blow and the wheels clanging on the steel rails, which kept us all awake.
We only lived two blocks from the base. One night a solder tried to come in the house when Dad was gone. Another night Mother and Dad heard the military police firing a machine gun down the road in front of our house.
To make matters worse a den of rattle snakes lived in a deserted coupe across the narrow dirt road in front of the house.
One day Dad heard that there was a tent for sale in town; So we all went to look at the tent.
The tent was about 15 by 20 feet in size. It had a wooden floor covered with new linoleum. The walls were made of wood the first three feet from the floor. The rest of the walls were made of screen wire. The roof was of regular tent canvas with flaps that could be rolled down to cover the screen wire. The tent was made to be connected to gas, electricity and water. It had a regular kitchen cabinet and sink. It did not have a bathroom but Dad had his own barber shop where he worked when he got off from the air base in the afternoon. The barber shop had its own bathroom. Mother and Dad both liked the tent, so they bought it.
Dad had the tent moved to the back of his barber shop and had it connected to the utilities and a cesspool.
We lived in the tent for the next two and a half years. Some of our best memories are from living in this tent.
Pyote was a small western town on Highway 80 just below the southeast corner of New Mexico. The Southern Pacific Railroad tracks ran along the north side of the highway and the businesses were lined up on the other side. The buildings were all made of wood; some of them were made of wooden frames covered with corrugated iron. There were no concrete sidewalks in town; all it had were board-walks.
The days of the old western saloon were over, but the town had two pool halls which were pretty much the same thing. It had a drug store, two grocery stores, a dry goods store, a movie theater, a cafe, a bus depot and a few other businesses.
The law was enforced by a deputy sheriff who wore a six shooter, cowboy boots, a western shirt and big hat. Everyone called him "Tom the Sheriff."
Dad had rented an old two room house that had been abandoned, but now because of the war it was in demand. To say that Mom did not like the house was a vast understatement. It was infested with roaches, spiders, centipedes and mice. The wall paper was torn from the walls in large areas and we could see daylight between cracks in the walls. The linoleum on the floor was a horrible mess.
At night we could hear insects crawling between the wall and loose wall paper. If some one turned on a light at night we could see dozens of roaches on the floor; they quickly scampered under the base boards. For some reason the centipedes liked the bathroom shower. Several times when I went to take a shower I had to call Mother to come and kill a centipede that was crawling on the wall.
The windows would never close completely and when we had a sandstorm, which was often, the and would come through the windows and cover the kitchen table, kitchen cabinet, the floor and everything else.
Talk about being noisy! Airplanes were taking off and flying over our house all hours of the day and night. Troop trains were constantly coming through town. At night we could hear the whistles blow and the wheels clanging on the steel rails, which kept us all awake.
We only lived two blocks from the base. One night a solder tried to come in the house when Dad was gone. Another night Mother and Dad heard the military police firing a machine gun down the road in front of our house.
To make matters worse a den of rattle snakes lived in a deserted coupe across the narrow dirt road in front of the house.
One day Dad heard that there was a tent for sale in town; So we all went to look at the tent.
The tent was about 15 by 20 feet in size. It had a wooden floor covered with new linoleum. The walls were made of wood the first three feet from the floor. The rest of the walls were made of screen wire. The roof was of regular tent canvas with flaps that could be rolled down to cover the screen wire. The tent was made to be connected to gas, electricity and water. It had a regular kitchen cabinet and sink. It did not have a bathroom but Dad had his own barber shop where he worked when he got off from the air base in the afternoon. The barber shop had its own bathroom. Mother and Dad both liked the tent, so they bought it.
Dad had the tent moved to the back of his barber shop and had it connected to the utilities and a cesspool.
We lived in the tent for the next two and a half years. Some of our best memories are from living in this tent.
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