User talk:HOA Monitor

As 2013 nears its end, the Horn of Africa seems to be entering a new period of turbulence: events in South Sudan this week bring the country to the brink of civil war -- a tragedy that can hopefully be avoided. Events in Sudan suggest subtle shifts and power struggles behind the scenes. Ethiopia enters its first full year in the absence of it former PM, Meles Zenawi, and Eritrea continues to haemorrhage, as thousands of its people flee the country each month. In Somalia, a political reshuffle brings a political unknown into the spotlight as PM, at a time when Al-Shabaab is flexing its muscles and reorganizing itself. All the more important that Wikipedia pages on the region be up-to-date and accurate.

Welcome back/PMPF

Hey HOA Monitor, welcome back. I'm a bit of a military specialist, and it would be good to have somebody also doing international security affairs as well as we start to rebuild WP's coverage of Somali areas... Buckshot06 (talk) 10:55, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Hey Buckshot06, I hope I can be of use. My day job keeps me busy, but I've been working on Somalia and neighbouring countries for quite a while now, and would like to see WP become a genuine reference on the Horn of Africa rather than a proxy theatre of war for partisans and propagandists - of which there has been (in my opinion) too much of late HOA Monitor (talk) 15:01, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

What's the highest priority? I can certainly spend some time on the PMPF if you think that would benefit from some joint work. Buckshot06 (talk) 23:28, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

Buckshot06 Hard to say where to start, but the PMPF article seems as good as any: it's currently crafted as a largely promotional piece designed to defend the force, rather than to assess all points of view. Controversies over the force's establishment and the role of a foreign PSC in its formation and training seem to have been glossed over. And much of the text is unsourced or poorly sourced. Perhaos we'll make better progress if we work on it together.HOA Monitor (talk) 14:16, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Great. Please feel free to lay down a work programme for the PMPF and I can do some bits while you do others. Khatumo/SSC may be a next possibility after that. Buckshot06 (talk) 18:26, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

Sounds good. I propose to begin by revisiting the Overview and Support sections, introducing the controversies that emerged relating to the UN sanctions regime and related questions of international law.

I also think there's a need to review sourcing: in several places, the Puntland government's assertions appear to be taken at face value, without qualification or corroboration, raising possible POV issues. I am also concerned by the heavy reliance on Somalia Report as a reference, since its editor in chief has acknowledged that he was on the payroll of Erik Prince, who was also the architect of the PMPF. 12:19, 4 June 2015 (UTC)HOA Monitor (talk)

I'll follow your lead initially, because my knowledge of the PMPF is currently once-over-lightly; basically I get the impression that it was a private force of the President, or some such. Buckshot06 (talk) 21:51, 4 June 2015 (UTC)