Somali president calls for Ramadan ceasefire

Oh yeah it all sounds good , a nice cease fire for Ramadam , But Militant Muslims can't resist Blowing up Innocent people on their way to worship their Pedophile Prophet ! How many deaths will there be this year ?
Only Allah Knows !

By Abdiaziz Hassan and Sahra Abdi NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's government has called on warring parties in the conflict-torn horn of Africa nation to stop fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a spokesman for the presidency said Saturday.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, said the ceasefire call was motivated by the need for peace during the religiously significant month.

"The president made this call since it is necessary to not stop people going to Islamic centers, worship Allah any time without fear, and we hope the opposition will accept it without condition," Abdulkadir Osman told Reuters by telephone.

Opposition groups said they would discuss the ceasefire call.

We will Discuss not killing innocent people ?

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Afghan officials reach truce with taliban

Afghan officials from the Badghis province have reached a truce with the taliban from that area. The taliban have agreed not to attack any election candidates. Globe & Mail

Under the agreement reached in northwestern Badghis province – the first local truce with Taliban insurgents ahead of the August presidential election – the Taliban agreed not to attack election candidates in the province and to allow them to set up campaign offices.

But the arrangement, which applies to an already relatively peaceful province, is something Kabul will have a hard time replicating in the volatile southern provinces, where fighting still rages. Indeed, Canadian forces already expect a spike in violence leading up to the Aug. 20 election. And while some Taliban officials say they will avoid attacking polling booths, there is no telling just how many members of the highly decentralized Afghan insurgency will actually follow through on that promise.

“The great likelihood is that the insurgency will try to disrupt the election,” Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, commander of Task Force Kandahar, said in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail. “They might try to discredit the election with attacks on polling centres, suicide attacks or lacing the ground with IEDs, so the potential is there for more attempts at violence, for sure.”

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Sri Lanka rejects ceasefire despite fresh pressure

what a situation ! estimates of 6500 dead over a couple of months , All Civilians ! a Stubborn terrorist group , and an even more stubborn Government ! Over one hundred thousand people that have scrambled for their lives ! all coming down to a small little Four square mile Area !And the Government Says (For the 6th or 7th Time ) that within a day or two it will all be over !

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military's actions constituted a "humanitarian operation."

Sri Lanka has been under fresh pressure this week, from the European Union among others, to allow a ceasefire so civilians trapped in the tiny area the Tigers still hold can escape.

U.S. officials meanwhile told Reuters Washington wanted an IMF loan to Sri Lanka delayed to encourage Colombo to do more to help the civilians caught in the last redoubt of the Tigers, who have fought a 25-year war for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland.

"We have at no time gone for a ceasefire. We will not do so now. There is no time for that now," Rajapaksa said in a speech published on government websites.

"In the five or six days remaining we have given the opportunity for the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to lay down their arms and surrender," he said, urging them to also let civilians leave.

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Sri Lanka suspends offensive for 2 days

At first this was said to be a Truce , but now it is just a little break in the action ! I don't know who the bigger Idiots are here ? The LTTE for using the civilians as human shields , or the Sri Lanka Military for Bombing the crap out everything and everyone , It is just a No win situation for the 100,000 plus civilians that may or may not be able to get out !

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's army began two-day cease-fire Monday, halting offenses against the cornered Tamil Tiger rebels and advising thousands of trapped civilians to use the pause to escape the war zone, the military said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered the military Sunday to restrict operations to a defensive nature only for the Sri Lankan New Year. His call came amid increasing international pressure on the government to protect civilians.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband welcomed the move and called on both sides to refrain from fighting.

The U.N. says that more than 100,000 people are trapped along with the cornered guerrillas in a government-declared "no-fire" zone measuring just 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers).

It has said scores of civilians have been killed in the fighting.

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Pakistan signs shariah law deal with taliban in SWAT

Our strong allies have done it again. Sign a ceasefire with the taliban and this time they agreed to implement shariah law. Which is what the taliban are fighting for. Soon Pakistan will be surrendering wholesale.

If you want the job done right, better do it yourself. BBC

Taleban fighters in north-west Pakistan's restive Swat valley have announced a 10-day ceasefire.

The move came after local officials signed a deal with a militant leader to enforce Islamic law in the district[...]

The Taleban have set up their own system of Islamic justice, as they understand it, and have closed down schools, denying education to tens of thousands of children, says the BBC's M Ilyas Khan, who was recently in Swat.

In an interview with US TV network CBS, President Asif Zardari said the Taleban had established a presence across "huge parts" of Pakistan.[...]

The agreement was signed by Taleban cleric Sufi Mohammad after talks with the North West Frontier Province's government.

The agreement binds the provincial government to implement Sharia law in the Malakand division, which comprises Swat and its adjoining areas.

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Israel bombs Gaza tunnels in series of air raids

You Knew it could not last !

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched a series of air strikes in the Gaza Strip Sunday, targeting a Hamas security complex and tunnels used to smuggle weapons after vowing a "disproportionate" response to cross-border fire.

The aircraft carried out half a dozen strikes after three Israelis were injured by a mortar salvo, including two soldiers and the first Israeli civilian hurt since a January 18 truce ended Israel's 22-day offensive in the coastal enclave.

There were no reported casualties in the air attacks. Five of the strikes targeted tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt, used to smuggle weapons into the coastal enclave, in a zone known as the Philadelphi corridor.

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A further Israeli attack was on a security headquarters in a village in central Gaza that residents said had been vacated after Israel telephoned warnings to Palestinians to leave buildings that housed any weapons.

An Israeli military statement said that "in response to rocket and mortar fire today, the air force has attacked a number of targets in the (Gaza) Strip, including six tunnels and a Hamas position." Hamas said five tunnels had been bombed.

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UN ceasefire call goes unheeded

Unheeded ? How about not Noticed ! Neither side took notice , and where not even involved in the talks for this Ceasefire ! what did the U.N and U.S. think?
With Lebanon starting to get involved , this whole Conflict is ready to pop Wide open ! and seems to be looking worse than ever ! This also goes to show that the U.N. is basically Irrelevant !!! Who are they going to get to come in and stop the whole thing ?

BBC
Israel is to keep up its offensive in the Gaza Strip despite a UN call for an immediate end to nearly two weeks of conflict involving Hamas militants.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the latest firing of rockets into Israel showed the resolution was "unworkable".

The Security Council resolution demanded a truce, access for aid workers and an end to arms smuggling.

Israel continued its bombardment during the night and on Friday morning, carrying out at least 50 air strikes.

However Israeli military operations have now again been paused for three hours to allow aid in.

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Seventy-five lorries carrying food and medicine will be allowed into Gaza, Israel says.

Hamas has also dismissed the UN ceasefire call.

Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said: "Even though we are the main actors on the ground in Gaza, we were not consulted about this resolution and they have not taken into account our vision and the interests of our people."

Meanwhile, witnesses have told the UN that about 30 Palestinians died earlier this week as Israeli forces shelled a house in Gaza City into which Israeli soldiers had previously moved more than 100 people, half of them children.

Israel said the allegations into the shelling of the house in the Zeitoun district were being investigated.

Since the current conflict began on 27 December, it is estimated that 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed.
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Somali foes sign ceasefire deal in Djibouti

Expect violence to increase in Somalia once the Ethopian troops withdraw. Reuters

NAIROBI, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Somalia's government signed a ceasefire agreement with some opposition figures on Sunday, meeting a key demand by giving a date for the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces backing the interim administration.

More then 10,000 people have been killed and a million displaced in fighting since early last year, pitting President Abdullahi Yusuf's government and allied Ethiopian forces against Islamist rebels -- mainly the al Shabaab militia, listed by Washington as a terrorist group.[...]

"Effective 26 October 2008, ceasefire observance has been announced. It will become effective 5 November 2008 ... starting 21 November 2008 the Ethiopian troops will relocate from areas of the cities of Beledweyn and Mogadishu," the agreement said.

"The second phase of the troop withdrawal shall be completed within 120 days," said the deal, signed in Djibouti by the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) opposition.

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