Somali prime minister to face confidence vote in parliament

Somalia's prime minister is expected to face a vote of confidence next week, lawmakers said, and backers of the challenge said they were frustrated with the pace of political reform. Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid heads a fledgling government Western capitals say is the best the strifetorn country has had for decades, determined...

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Ethiopian peacekeeper killed, two wounded in Sudanese clash

(Reuters) - One Ethiopian peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded when a U.N. convoy was caught up in a tribal clash in the Abyei border region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations said on Sunday. Sudan and South Sudan in March agreed to resume cross-border oil flows and defuse tensions which have plagued them since the South seceded in 2011 after an independence vote. But they were unable to...

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At least eight killed in Somalia bomb attack on Qatari officials

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a convoy carrying Qatari officials through the centre of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu today, killing at least eight Somalis, officials said. The visiting delegation of Qataris, who were travelling in the Somali interior minister’s bullet-proof vehicle, were “safe”, a security officer told Reuters, without going into further detail. The minister was not in the car at the...

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London conference awaits 'vision to take Somalia forward'

Somali president expected to present plans for rebuilding military, police and justice systems, as civil society calls on nascent government to empower women and provide jobs On Tuesday next week, the UK hosts yet another big conference on Somalia, bringing together officials from 50 countries and organisations, including the UN, African Union and International Monetary Fund. The most significant difference from last year's...

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Somalia Islamists ban food aid, child deaths ‘off the charts’

Nairobi, Kenya • A decision by extremist Islamic militants to ban delivery of food aid and a "normalization of crisis" that numbed international donors to unfolding disaster made south-central Somalia the most dangerous place in the world to be a child in 2011. The first in-depth study of famine deaths in Somalia in 2011 was released Thursday, and it estimates that 133,000 children under age 5 died, with child death rates...

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Somalia famine killed nearly 2, 60,000 people: UN

London: Over a quarter of a million people, including young children died in a famine in Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012 because the international community did not act quick enough, according to a UN report.  The report was commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network.  The study estimates that 4.6 percent of the...

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Britain Re-Opens Embassy in Somalia

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, right, shakes hands with Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the opening of the newly built British Embassy in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Apr. 25, 2013. Roopa Gogineni April 25, 2013 British Foreign Secretary William Hague flew to Mogadishu on Thursday to re-open the British Embassy...

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UNICEF says genital mutilation on decline in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Attitudes in Somalia toward a practice that critics decry as torture may be changing, as new data released by the U.N. children's agency on Tuesday showed that female genital mutilation among children in northern Somalia is on the decline. The survey released by UNICEF and the governments of Somaliland and Puntland found that 25 per cent of girls from the ages of 1 to 14 years old have undergone the practice,...

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Somalia's Shabaab 'a serious threat'

Nairobi - A spectacular attack on Sunday by Shabaab Islamists in Mogadishu, unprecedented in Somalia in terms of its operational complexity, has enabled the extremists to show they remain a serious threat. Though they are widely described as severely weakened, the attack by the al-Qaeda linked militants shows that the authorities have not restored security to Mogadishu as they like to claim. Nine assailants, wearing police...

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Brits warned to leave Somalia: Terrorist attack is ‘imminent’

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office believes terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in the capital Mogadishu. Officials have warned against all travel to every part of the war-torn country. They advised all expat Brits to leave, adding there is a specific threat to Westerners in the autonomous region of Somaliland. A spokesman for the FCO said: “We have amended our travel advice for Somalia. “Our advice...

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