Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The UN humanitarian agency said on Wednesday attacks on aid workers providing humanitarian supplies in Somalia resulted in the deaths of 15 aid workers by 2020. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 12 workers were injured, 24 abducted and 14 arrested in 2020, with 56 incidents involving aid workers reported. "In a single tragic incident, seven health workers were abducted and subsequently murdered. Several cases of confiscation of humanitarian supplies,…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has renewed the recruitment of members who jumped from the terrorist group Al-Shabaab to bring them into the country's security and military forces. Abdisalam Guled, who served as deputy head of the Somali intelligence service NISA, said Al-Shabaab had infiltrated the bodies of the Somali security agencies under the attention of the international community. "A new Al-Shabaab egg is hatched every day in the security forces," said Guled, who recently brought…

Kenya is calling for the closure of two large refugee camps on its territory. There are more than 500,000 refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma sites, mainly Somalis for the first and South Sudanese for the second. Nairobi cites security reasons. A message that worries but whose application promises to be extremely complex. The Minister of the Interior gave humanitarian workers 14 days to establish a timetable for closure. Fred Matiangi said there was "no more room for negotiation" and that the government had "an obligation…

BELED-HAWO, Somalia - Jubalan's state Security Minister Abdirashid Janan has surrendered to the government following secret talks with NISA leader Fahad Yasin. His surrender took place in the border town of Beled-Hawo in the presence of two Somali government ministers and Fahad Yassin. Janan dropped out of a large number of regional troops shortly after he was fired as Jubaland security minister due to his contact with Mogadishu. Amnesty International has called on the government to bring Janan to justice for human…

Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it was concerned about the lack of consensus between Somalia's political factions on the electoral process. "We are concerned that the lack of consensus so far among stakeholders on the electoral process in Somalia could disrupt the Somali people's expectations of the development of their country, as well as achieving peace and prosperity," the statement said. It added that Turkey has invited the Somali Federal Government (FGS) and the Federal…

Kenya is closing the world's largest refugee camp amid strained ties with Somalia NAIROBI, Kenya - The Kenyan government has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to close two key refugee camps in yet another step that could escalate the security crisis even across the country's borders. In a statement from the Secretary of the Interior, Dr.…

The United States is asking Somalia's political actors to drop the terms before the pre - election talks MOGADISHU, Somalia - In what could rattle both the opposition and the federal government in Somalia, the United States has asked the political players to drop prior conditions so that they can allow the country to find a solution to the current political stalemate in the country.…

EDITORIAL | Somalia is once again facing the prospect of a political agreement after another meeting was held on Wednesday this week at the well-guarded Mogadishu Aden Abdulle International Airport. Still, there is little, if any, optimism at this meeting. First, there was confusion after President Farmajo organized a parallel but partial meeting with his prime minister Hussein Roble, Benadir Governor Omar Filish and presidents of Hirshabelle, Southwest and Galmudug. There is no problem with the meeting if it was a…

KISMAYO, Somalia | The incumbent Jubaland security minister Abdirashid Janaan has been formally fired after switching allegiance to the Mogadishu administration, despite working closely with the regional government under President Ahmed Islam Mohamed Madobe. Several sources had suggested to Axadlethat Janan, who hails from the Gedo region, was planning to formally move his loyalty to outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, with whom he had disagreed. And Jubaland, who apparently had intelligence reports, fired…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Water sources in Somalia are rapidly drying up when an impending drought intensifies, leaving 70 percent of families across the country without access to safe drinking water. Thousands of children are now dependent on emergency water transport and unprotected wells or are being forced to leave their homes in search of water, according to a new assessment from Save the Children. The assessment, which covered 632 households in eight regions of Somalia, shows reduced rainfall and severe water shortages…