EU delegation arrives in Mogadishu, meets with Somali president

A high-level delegation from the European Union has today torched down in Mogadishu airport, the second visit since the EU has appointed its first ambassador to the horn of Africa nation for more 20 years. The delegation which headed by Michele Cervone d’Urso, EU’s new envoy to Somalia, has held a closed door meeting with president...

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MAIN NEWS Two suicide explosions at cafe kill 4 in Mogadishu

At least four people have been killed and many others injured in double suicide explosions at a hotel in Somali capital Mogadishu, police and Witnesses said. Witnesses said two bombers blew themselves up at the entrance of Village restaurant in Mogadishu’s Hodon district that is frequented by government official and residents, killing a security guard and a civilian customer. Abdullah Hassan Barise, the spokesman of Somali...

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Uganda threatens Somalia troop withdrawal

Uganda has threatened to pull its peacekeeping troops out of Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after a UN report accused it of backing M23 rebels in the central African country. In a statement to parliament, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi said on Friday that the UN report carried baseless, unfair and malicious allegations. The report, leaked to the media last month, also accused Rwanda, Uganda's southern...

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KDF to mark one year since Somalia invasion

Kenya Defence Force will hold the first commemoration ceremony since the incursion to Somalia at the 10th Engineers Nanyuki Garrison. According to a press release issued by the Director of Public Communications, Ministry of Defence, Mr Bogita Ongeri, October 14 would from now on be a special day for the forces. “It will be a day to celebrate and remembering the contributions present and past of those who served or continue...

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Minn. witness describes early al-Shabab recruiting

A Minnesota man who traveled to Somalia to enlist in the terrorist group al-Shabab has identified the person he says first attempted to persuade him to join up. Salah Osman Ahmed is testifying in the federal trial in Minneapolis of Mahamud Said (mah-hah-MOOD' sy-EED') Omar, who is accused of helping Americans travel to Somalia. The trial is shedding light on the way recruiting worked. Ahmed named Abdiweli Yassin Isse (EE'-say)...

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Somalia Detains 300 Suspected Al-Shabaab Members

Somali National Army(SNA) have detained at least 300 suspected Al Shabab members in Mogadishu, the biggest mass arrest for months in the capital, police official said. General Mohamed Hassan Maalin, the police chief of Benadir region for Somali government told reporters in Mogadishu that the massive operation was conducted in villages in Hodon district, to protect attacks in the capital by Al shabab militant...

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Somali Islamists Driven Out Of Kismayo Port

Somalia’s violent Islamist movement has been driven out of its headquarters in the southern port city of Kismayo. It was the first amphibious assault by African troops since independence in the 1960s. A Kenyan task force bombarded Kismayo then landed troops from seven ships, locals said. They then battled the al Shabab which rushed troops to the city’s port and its beaches three miles to the north. Joined by Somali government...

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Kenyan Troops Storm Somali Militant Stronghold

By: Gabe Joselow Kenya’s Defense Force says its troops took control of parts of the Somali port city of Kismayo Friday in a pre-dawn attack from the land, air and sea. The long-awaited operation is targeting the last major stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) launched the assault around 2:00 am local time from the Kismayo coast in coordination with Somali forces and the...

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Kenya bomb Somali town from sea and air

Unknown warships off the Somali coast bombarded Somalia’s southern port city of Kismayo, 500 Km south of Mogadishu, Somali capital on Wednesday afternoon, forcing local residents to flee, reports said. Kismayo residents, who requested anonymity, told the Media station in Mogadishu via telephone that the warships shelled villages in...

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Somali President speech on the UN Mini-Summit on Somalia

Ladies and Gentlemen Mareeg.com-I am humbled and feel privileged to be given this opportunity to join you through the use of technology and make my statement from Mogadishu. I am both proud and happy to address you. Allow me to present my compliments to you and I regret to say that, I couldn’t make it to be with you physically New York due to prevailing circumstance in the transition of authority and wider consultation with...

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Kenyan Navy Vows More Attacks in Kismayo

Kenyan military spokesman Cyrus Oguna said that Kenyan navy and ground forces will not stop launching assaults in southern Somalia until they seize Kismayo, the rebels' last key bastion. Kenyan military spokesman Cyrus Oguna said the Kenyan navy shelled rebel gun placements on the jetty at Kismayu on Wednesday morning, after fighter jets launched air strikes on a warehouse and armoury near the airport on Tuesday. "It is...

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Somali lawmakers threatened

Shebab threaten to kill them ‘one-by-one’ Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab threatened Monday to kill all the country's new lawmakers, saying that a Member of Parliament killed at the weekend in Mogadishu was just the first to be targeted. "The successful elimination of Mustafa Haji Mohamed was the action of the mujahedeen who are committed to killing all MPs," a Shebab official who asked not to be named told AFP, saying...

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Unidentified gunmen kill journalist in Somalia

Unidentified gunmen have killed a local Somali radio journalist in the capital Mogadishu, making him the ninth journalist to be killed within this year in the war-torn country, Press TV reports. On Sunday evening, Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud, a cameraman working as freelance journalist, was shot several times by four armed men with pistols in Nasib Bundo neighborhood of Shibis district in Mogadishu.  According to his family...

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SUICIDE BOMBER TARGETED PARLIAMENT

The two suicide bombers arrested on Thursday night by Special Crime Prevention Unit and Anti Terrorism Police Unit are part of a larger Al Shabaab sponsored terror gang targeting to blow up Parliament and assassinate a high profile Kenyan politician. The suspects found with a cache of bombs and an assortment of weapons have confessed that one of their targets was parliament. "They wanted to find their way into Parliament and blow...

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Somalia inaugurates elected president after 20 years of strife

Somalia's new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office on Sunday, calling for an end to terrorism and piracy in a nation mired in conflict for more than two decades. Mohamud's inauguration, the first of its kind since the country slid into civil war after warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, follows a regionally-brokered, UN-backed effort to end fighting in which tens of thousands of people were killed and...

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Somali president, Kenyan FM escape deadly bomb attack

By Yara Bayoumy Somalia's new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the visiting Kenyan foreign minister on Wednesday escaped an apparent suicide bomb attack on a Mogadishu hotel where they were holding a news conference unscathed, witnesses said. Somalia's al Shabaab rebels said they had carried out the attack, which killed at least eight people and came just two days after Mohamud was elected in the first presidential vote in...

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Statement on the Election of New Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud

Press StatementHillary Rodham ClintonSecretary of StateWashington, DCSeptember 11, 2012 I want to congratulate President Hassan Sheikh and the Somali people on yesterday’s election. I commend former President Sheikh Sharif for his humility in conceding the election. With the election of a New Federal Parliament and Speaker, the national constituent assembly’s adoption of a provisional constitution, and the election of a new president,...

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Kenya PM Backs New Somalia President

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday congratulated newly elected Somalia president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, terming his election as a 'turning point' for peace and progress in the neighbouring country. He said that Mohamud's election on Monday was manifest of a clear intention by lawmakers in Somalia to break away from the past and start on a new chapter. "His election reflects a clear desire by parliamentarians to break with...

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Somalia MPs elect Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as new president

MPs meeting in Mogadishu have elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new president of Somalia with a big majority. The 56-year-old university lecturer garnered 190 votes against 79 for former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a second round run-off in the presidential election, which was held on Monday, AFP reported.  The two men...

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Somali election: Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh in run-off

Somalia's parliament is choosing a new president, in the latest step to end decades of war. No candidate secured the required two-thirds majority in the first round of voting, conducted by secret ballot. Two candidates then dropped out, leaving a run-off between outgoing President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and academic Hassan Sheikh. It is the first time in many years that a president will be chosen on Somali soil - a sign...

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Somalis await nomination of their new president

New Somali parliamentarians pray during an inauguration ceremony for members of Somalia's first parliament in 20 years in Mogadishu August 20, 2012, in this photograph released by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team. Image by: HANDOUT / Reuters MOGADISHU - Somalia's 25 presidential hopefuls were campaigning ahead of...

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200 al Shabaab militias surrender

More than 200 al Shabaab fighters and their leaders on Wednesday night and Thursday morning surrendered to the African Union Mission in Somalia. The fighters and their leaders told Amisom troops and the Somalia National Army that they had defected from the militia and begged for leniency. They asked to be allowed to fight alongside the UN-backed troops to oust their former colleagues as Amisom marches into Kismayu. The insurgent...

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Somalia: Outgoing President Denies Corruption Charges

Mogadishu — Somalia's outgoing Transitional Federal Government (TFG) president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, denied corruption allegation during time in power. Addressing to parliament on Friday, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, said that he worked for his country in fair and transparent manner with no fraud and embezzlement. Mr Ahmed, who is now...

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Somalia: Al Shabab Attacks African Union Forces

Badade — Heavily armed Al shabab fighters attacked on Thursday night the town of Badade under the control of Kenyan forces, serving with the AMISOM and the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government soldiers. Residents of northern Mogadishu reported hearing explosions and gunfire used in Badade combat on Wednesday as Somali government and African Union soldiers advanced on other Al-Shabab positions in the same region. The casualty...

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Top Shabaab Leader Killed in Kismayu Onslaught

A senior Al Shabaab commander was among seven people killed as Kenya Defence Forces continued shelling the Somali port town of Kismayu. Military Spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna said the attack was part of a push by the African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM) to capture the city. "During the shelling on September 3, we killed seven al Shabaab members including a senior commander based in Kismayu," said Oguna. Tuesday's bombardment...

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Somalia: Kismayo feels the heat ahead of AMISOM assault

Mogadishu (Somalia) - Hundreds of civilians have over recent weeks fled the Somali port city of Kismayo, where tension is rising amid sporadic shelling by the Kenyan navy in the run-up to an African Union military operation to dislodge Al-Shabab militants from their last stronghold in the country. Some 800 people left Kismayo between 30 August and 6 September, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which tracks population...

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Mogadishu still unsafe, says UK group’s report

A UK-based advocacy group has issued a report highly critical of the Somali government’s attempts to restore security in Mogadishu and improve local governance. The report points at a disturbing rise in violence and officially-sanctioned vigilantes a year after the militant insurgent group Al-Shabaab was dislodged from the capital by the African peacekeeping force, Amisom. The 27-page report by Saferworld, a conflict-prevention...

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US drone attack kills 21, injures 72 in Somalia

At least 21 people have been killed in the latest attack by US assassination drones in Somalia’s southwestern region of Gedo, Press TV reports. According to local military officials, over 72 others were also wounded in the incident which took place in Buur Dubo town on Wednesday.  Further details regarding the incident have not yet been released.  The US military uses remote-controlled drones in Somalia for reconnaissance...

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Kenyan forces shell Kismayo port city

Kenyan military spokesman,Col.Cyrus Oguna on Tuesday said the shelling is part of the efforts to flash out Al-Shabaab militants out of Kismayo. Initially Kenyan Prime minster requested enough funding to takeover Kismayo port city from the Al-Qaeda surrogate in Somalia. Residents in Kismayo said they have witnessed shelling in their city which instilled fear in them. Recently the militant Islamist have blocked Kismayo residents...

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Somalia - Electoral Commission Releases Criteria for Candidates Running for President

Mogadishu, Somalia — The electoral commission announced the criteria for candidates running for president of Somalia, Garowe Online reports. Spokesman for the electoral commission Osman Libah Ibrahim held a press conference in Mogadishu on Saturday explaining the criteria for candidates running for president. The ten point criteria included that the candidate must pay a $10,000 registration fee before running for elections. The...

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Somalia: Somali and African Union Forces Claim Victory in Two Day Battle

Kismayo, Somalia — Somali and African Union forces announced that they captured the town of Miido in the lower Jubba region after an intense battle with Al Shabaab, Garowe Online reports. Lieutenant General Andrew Gutti Commander of the AMISOM forces stated on Sunday that his forces have taken control of Miido located 86 kms away from Kismayo, which had been controlled by Al Shabaab. "The operations were successful, Somali and...

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Somalia: We Are Ready to Talk to Al-Shabaab

INTERVIEW Somalia Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali spoke to The Independent's Andrew Mwenda What is your biggest challenge as a Prime Minister?When I came here as a Prime Minister I had two biggest challenges; one was the severe drought. As you may be aware the people here lack food because of the drought. The other challenge is insecurity-you know Al-shabaab have for a long period tried to control the biggest part of the country....

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