Southern Somali Union (SSU) 1^st PRESS RELEASE By Eng. Abdulkadir Khalif Secretary General of SSU Dec. 27, 2005

A two day meeting aimed to discuss problems facing the natives of the southern Somalia and establish strategies to alleviate the pain and the suffering exposed to the unarmed communities hailing from Benadir, lower Shabelle, Jubba and Gedo was held in Columbus, Ohio on December 24-25, 2005.  Between 200 and 250 delegates from across the US and Canada attended the meeting and many others have joined from overseas by phone. As a result of the meeting, an organization named “Southern Somali Union (SSU)” was founded.  This organization is expected to unite and mobilize the natives of the Southern regions of Somalia, who are under inhumane occupation. The membership of this organization is open to anyone who is either a native of southern Somalia or who strongly opposes slavery and clan occupation regardless of tribe, and ethnic background.

The participants are also pleased to announce the successful completion of the 1^st Annual Conference of the "Southern Somalia Union – (SSU)” of North America and we sincerely hope that the resolutions adapted here today will go a long way to resolve the conflict in our homeland in general and southern Somalia in particular.

In this press release, we, the SSU would like to make clear our position regarding the current situation in Southern Somalia and other issues that have been recently in the news, which we consider to be detrimental to the natives of the Southern Somalia.

• We categorically reject the number of seats allocated to the Banadiri community in the newly formed administration of Mogadishu and strongly condemn all the warlords and politicians who are united together to oppress and refute the rights of our people.

• We consider the illegal administration of Lower Shabelle created by Abdi Qassim and now led by Yussuf Inda Cadde and the “The Juba Valley Alliance” led Barre Hiiraale and Yussuf Seeraar, as enslavers who use force and other acts of intimidation and barbarism to control these regions. These “administrations” have imposed political and economic slavery on the regions and have ethnically cleansed vast areas of Benadir, Lower Shabelle, Jubba and Gedo.

• We request all governments, international organizations, and individuals who fund the NGOs presently operating in the occupied territories to immediately suspend their financial assistance and support to those NGOs. We believe that these NGOs are directly and indirectly providing financial resources used to perpetuate the occupation and slavery of the indigenous peoples of southern Somalia.

• We request the United Nations and international Human Right organizations to investigate all kinds of abuses and other human rights violations occurring in southern Somalia.

• We call upon the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to immediately halt all forms of contacts and negotiations with the warlords in the occupied territories. We consider these contacts as unhelpful to the Somali reconciliation process and a tacit recognition of their illegal administrations.

• We call upon all countries, companies and individuals who trade with the warlords in southern Somalia to immediately halt all their business relations, co-operations and transactions with the said warlords and their henchmen.

• We urge all the international environmental organizations to intervene and help us to stop the environmental devastation occurring in the occupied territories due to the indiscriminate chopping of trees for charcoal and the insensitivity of the Middle Eastern countries who import charcoal from Somalia. We also condemn the dumping of toxic wastes in the coastal areas of Somalia.

•  We urge all peace loving Somalis to join our peaceful struggle to liberate the people of southern Somalia and to help us foster peace and democracy in our homeland.

• We declare our opposition and strongly condemn the recent dialogue and the conspiracy agreement between Mohamed Dheere and Indha Cadde, the two warlords who control Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle, respectively. We consider the dialogue and the subsequent agreements between these two warlords as a grand conspiracy hatched against the natives of southern Somalia.

• We strongly condemn the acts of barbarism committed against the people of Gedo, especially the recent destruction of “Ceelwaaq” and the displacement of its residents by “Jubba Valley Alliance”.

• We hereby voice our opposition to the mechanics of implementing the recently proposed “Joint Needs Assessment” for Somalia. We believe that its implementation according to the announced designs is another way through which the international donor funds are being used to perpetuate domination of certain groups by others. We call upon the UN and the World Bank to immediately suspend the implementation of the JNA project pending that it stays transparent, inclusive and its main objectives remains unchanged.

• We call upon all the natives of Southern Somalia and other peace loving Somalis to join the SSU and campaign against the ferocious occupation and slavery in the south.