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We took part in Africa Day 2007 last night, and we had a really good time. We were helping out CRD Somalia with some video stuff, and displaying their web sites: www.crdsom.org and www.africame.org.

Magnus and I feel very honored to help with the Africa Day Celebrations on the 18th of the June, at the Culture Foundation, in Abu Dhabi.  Read more at www.crdsom.org or www.africame.org

AFRICA DAY CELEBRATION

In recent years, the African Union, as the most important regional organization on the African continent, has stayed committed to maintaining Africa’s stability, promoting its unity, driving its economic integrity, pro actively engaging in international affairs and safeguarding the interests of the continent. Through unremitting efforts, the African Union is now playing an ever more important role in both regional and international arenas.

Exactly Forty-four years ago, African people set up the Organization of African Unity in search of independence and liberation. Since then, May 25th has become a celebrated day among all Africans. Five years ago, in order to adapt itself to a complex and ever-changing international environment, and strive for progress and development, the African Union took over the baton from the Organization of African Unity and began to lead African people on a new journey.

From the launch of the Organization of African Unity to the advent of the African Union, it has been noticed with great pleasure that African people, while marching firmly along the road of independence and greater strength, have overcome many difficulties and made numerous achievements. In celebration of this sacred and solemn moment on the “Africa Day”, we are not only commemorating the unity, cooperation and arduous efforts of the African people over the past decades, but also reflecting positively on the wonderful prospects of Africa’s integrity. In the ever-changing world of growing competition, the developing countries must actively engage in exploring diversified ways of south-south cooperation, stand united and speak in “one voice” in order to improve our status in the international arena, foster the establishment of a new international economic order, and safeguard to the maximum degree our own interests in the process of globalization.

Please join the African Ambassadors group in the UAE to Celebrate Africa Day this year again on June the 18th at the Abu Dhabi Cultural foundation from 7:30 PM. For More information about the event, you can contact the embassy of the Republic of Senegal at 02-633-6929

Shatila Salami, 23 years old, is just a weeks away from finishing her basic military service in the Swedish Airforce. The article in Aftonbladet says she had a tough time in the beginning with people making fun of her, but she held her head high and persevered and now she wants to continue in the military to become a military police. That takes her to Kosovo next. Shatila made her own abaya that matches her green uniform and works even if she has her helmet and ear protection on. Major Kent Lowing says that the military offered Shatila her own room but she declined. So they put up drapes around her bed so she could share a room with both men and women.

EmiratesToday:

Three Dubai-based Finnish nationals detained in Iran for entering its territorial waters without permission were released last night, Finland’s Foreign Ministry said.

The men, employees of Nokia Siemens Networks in Dubai, were arrested on Saturday off Abu Musa Island while on a fishing trip. The island is midway between the UAE and Iran.

The men were reportedly held by Iranian security forces for four days at an undisclosed location on the mainland.

“We have received information from their relatives they had contacted them and told them they have been released,” a senior official of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Pasi Tuominen, told the AFP news agency.

“It’s fairly late in the day… but our hope is they will be in Dubai by the end of tomorrow at the latest,” said a spokesperson for Nokia Siemens Networks.

Earlier yesterday, the company sent a memo to all of its employees in Dubai, advising them to avoid speaking to the media about their three arrested colleagues.

The document also said: “All of them are in a good con dition and we expect the matter will be resolved amicably.” A company spokesperson yesterday declined to provide any information about the men or their families, saying the company considers it in their best interests to keep their identities outside of the public domain.

Regarding the detention of the three, the Finnish Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, said the incident had “no political implications”.

It seems the Hurricanes follow us, well it isn’t a real hurricane it is a cyclone.  This storm will not hit us, but will hit our neighbor Oman, and bring us some rain, which will be really nice!
CNN News: 

MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — A cyclone expected to be the strongest storm ever recorded in the Arabian Peninsula churned toward the oil-rich Gulf on Tuesday, forcing thousands of residents of Oman’s coastal towns to flee their homes.

The storm was expected to lose strength before hitting the most important installations in the Persian Gulf off of Saudi Arabia and southern Iran, but oil analysts said it could delay the loading of tankers in the Gulf — something that could cause a spike in oil prices.

With winds of 160 miles per hour and gusts of 195 miles per hour — the equivalent of a Category Five hurricane — Cyclone Gonu headed northwest through the Indian Ocean toward Oman’s east coast, with rain from its outer edges already reaching some areas.

The U.S. military said safety precautions were being taken in Oman but its personnel had not been ordered evacuated. Oman allows the U.S. to use four air bases in the sultanate for refueling, logistics and storage, though little has been revealed publicly about U.S.-Oman military ties.

U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the region were also taking precautions to avoid Gonu, but there was no major overhaul of operations, said Lt. Denise Garcia, a spokeswoman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, which is based in Bahrain. The U.S. military has offered its assistance to Oman, but so far, Omani authorities have not requested help, she said.

One of the bases is on Masirah Island, in the storm’s projected path. The base hosted U.S. B-1B bombers, C-130 transports and U.S. Special Forces AC-130 gunships during the war in Afghanistan and the U.S. has continued to have basing rights on the island.

The U.S. military is preparing for Gonu “just like anyone would prepare for such a cyclone,” Garcia said. She declined to provide more details.

Oman’s major oil installations, which were not directly in the projected path and nowhere near as extensive as those of its neighbors, continued operations but took precautions as Gonu approached.

The government in neighboring Saudi Arabia said the country and oil markets would not be seriously affected by the storm.

But some oil analysts said the storm could have a damaging effect on the oil market.

Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London, said the real fear is that the loading of tankers might be delayed by the storm.

“About 17-21 million barrels a day of oil are coming out of the Persian Gulf. Even if only some of the tankers are delayed that could reduce the supply of oil and increase prices,” Takin said.

Authorities on Monday evacuated nearly 7,000 people from Masirah, a lowland island off the east coast of Oman, said General Malik bin Suleiman al-Muamri, head of the country’s civil defense. Oman’s Muscat Airport also was closed.

Al-Muamri said a state of emergency was declared in the affected area, including mobilizing army and police forces to help provide shelter and medical services. More families were also leaving their homes in towns on the mainland on Tuesday, officials said. The government said schools and public building were emptied to make room for the evacuees.

Oil prices rose on Monday but retreated Tuesday, though the storm weighed heavily on the market.

The most powerful part of the storm was expected to hit Oman on Thursday, before moving north into southern Iran. A U.S. Navy weather agency predicted the eye would veer to the northwest, skirting the eastern coast of Oman near the capital Muscat and heading north toward southern Iran.

The forecast indicated rough seas within the Straits of Hormuz, a transportation route for two-fifths of the world’s oil, westward to the outskirts of Dubai.

Even with the weaker wind speeds, Gonu is expected to be the strongest cyclone to hit the Arabian Peninsula since record keeping started in 1945. A cyclone is the term used for hurricanes in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific.