"... leaders from the three provinces declared themselves the state of Khatumo. They sought not independence but, like Puntland, autonomy from the central government in Mogadishu with the aim of creating a federal republic that would give Puntland and their region autonomy within a larger Somalia state"

"... Somaliland government frequently and arbitrarily arrested and detained journalists—mainly those reporting on sensitive political issues such as the self-proclaimed Khatumo State — and clamped down on opposition protests."

"... complete with ‘Machicouli’ galleries, which rendered every means of ingress subject to an enfilading fire, and these he also began to construct elsewhere. He had possession of large areas of the hinterland. If defence reigned supreme, then his enemies must now come to attack him in his fortresses.."

"The majority of the stock was grazing round the Dervish forts at Halin and Gerrowei, about 150 miles from our advanced post at Eil Dab, and were protected by some hundreds of Illaloes (i.e. scouts) covering our line of advance down the Nogal Valley."

"Archer, telling the assembled war gods about the Mullah’s fortress at Tale, suggested that there were: …two views as to the nature of the operations which should be undertaken. (1) The first involved close co-operation between the Camel Corps and Air – Craft"

"Nin wax cunay xishood."

"Talo walaal diide taagoogta ayuu kajabaa."

"Allow me to break down the facts of hunger as they stand right now. 811 million people are chronically hungry. 283 million are in hunger crises — they are marching toward starvation. And within that, 45 million in 43 countries across the globe are in hunger emergencies — in other words, famine is knocking on their door. Places like Afghanistan. Madagascar. Myanmar. Guatemala. Ethiopia. Sudan. South Sudan. Mozambique. Niger. Syria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Haiti and on and on and on. The world has often experienced famine. But when has it ever been so widespread, in so many places, at the same time? Why? Three reasons. First, man-made conflict. Dozens of civil wars and regional conflicts are raging, and hunger has been weaponized to achieve military and political objectives. Second, climate shocks /climate change. Floods, droughts, locusts and rapidly changing weather patterns have created severe crop failures around the world. Third, COVID-19. The viral pandemic has created a secondary hunger pandemic, which is far worse than the first. Shutdowns destroyed livelihoods. Shutdowns stopped the movement of food. Shutdowns inflated prices. The net result is the poor of the world are priced out of survival. The ripple effect of COVID has been devastating on the global economy. During the pandemic, $3.7 trillion in incomes — mostly among the poor — have been wiped out, while food prices are spiking. The cost of shipping food, for example, has increased 3 – 400%. But in places of conflict and low-income countries, it is even worse. For example, in Aleppo, Syria — a war zone, where I just returned from — food is now seven times more expensive than it was 2 years ago. The combined effect of these three — conflict, climate and COVID — has created an unprecedented perfect storm."

"The Battle of Mogadishu was the fiercest urban combat the military had participated in since the Vietnam War, and it left 18 American servicemen and an unknown number of Somalis dead. Images of jeering Somalis dragging an American corpse through the streets infuriated the U.S. public (and Congress), compelling President Bill Clinton to withdraw American forces from Somalia."

"Turkish doctors have offered health services to half a million Somalis, so far [Kalin on Turkish doctors' charity programs in Somalia]"

"Since 2011, Turkey has made a concentrated effort to provide the Somali people's basic needs: security, education, health, institutional capacity building, the building of state institutions, roads, ports, airports, fisheries and energy. Compared with 2011, today, Somalia is in much better position"

"The building [National Library of Mogadishu] should restore Somalia's history for future generations."

"According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Philips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there."

"The Somali health system is at the moment in a state of crisis. They [aid agencies] will face difficulties in continuing to provide lifesaving health services at the scale that is required as a result mainly of the declining humanitarian funding."