Piracy has been drawing huge attention to Somalia’s shores in the past few years, but this is just one part of the country’s complex profile. Somalia has been without an effective government since the collapse of its socialist system in 1991. Since then, the country has been embroiled in conflict as disparate groups vie for [...]
The fragmented country of Somalia is no stranger to conflict and the last two years of fighting has increasingly taken a toll on the lives of everyone in the country, especially the children. Somalia is quite literally a raging battle ground, as fighting in the country continues, as insurgents exchange fire with the Somali government, [...]
IF pre-military operation Swat has a global counterpart, it’s Somalia. Exchange the Taliban for Al-Shabab, a radical Islamic group, and events in the unstable African country will seem eerily familiar to Pakistanis. In recent months, Shabab militants have killed government ministers, beheaded innocents, attacked Sufi imams, arrested shrine caretakers and destroyed Sufi shrines across southern [...]
Nairobi – A Somali radio journalist was shot dead in the country’s war-wracked capital, the sixth to be killed in the lawless country since January, Reporters Without Borders said on Sunday. Unidentified gunmen shot Yusuf Mohamed, 22, who works for private Radio Holy Quran, and left to die by the roadside. “The chaos reigning in [...]
By Juma Kwayera Having ruled out military intervention to end civilian carnage in Somalia, Kenya is bracing for confrontation with Islamist insurgents in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation that has not known peace for two decades. Even as Al-Shabaab warned of felling Nairobi’s skyscrapers in retaliation if Kenya heeds calls by President Sheikh Sharif [...]
By Christian Lowe SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) – African leaders will consider a resolution Friday to give African Union peacekeepers in Somalia a mandate to do more than just defend themselves from attacks by hardline rebels. At the moment, the 4,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi in the AMISOM are largely confined to their bases and [...]
An Islamist commander in Somalia has told the BBC there has been an influx of fighters from overseas joining their battle against the interim government. The al-Shabab militant leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several hundred foreigners had joined their militia, many from Pakistan. Meanwhile, at least 30 people have been killed in [...]
by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio July 2, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — Somali-Americans in Minnesota will protest a rash of suicide bombings in their homeland at a rally Friday in Minneapolis. Somalia has been at civil war for the past two decades, but suicide attacks began to surface only recently. Last month, the radical [...]
By Mark Doyle BBC World Affairs correspondent An African Union summit has opened in Libya amid calls for more African troops to be sent to deal with the crisis in Somalia. But given the limited mandate of the African Union (AU) force currently in Somalia, and its very limited resources, critics say it is not [...]
By Abdi Guled MOGADISHU, July 2 (Reuters) – Heavy fighting in the Somali capital killed at least 20 people on Thursday, the second day of fierce clashes as government forces tried to drive hardline Islamists out of their Mogadishu bases. Al Qaeda-linked fighters in Somalia’s al Shabaab rebel group are battling to oust President Sheikh [...]