Somalia's most powerful Islamist rebel group al-Shabab on Tuesday executed two men, accusing them to be spies for the country's federal government forces, in a southern seaport city of Barawe. The victims identified as Abdinasir Abdi Elmi, 17 and his co-accused Abdikadir Dahir Isman, 20, were tied to a pole at the centre of the town while in masked, before they were finally shot to dead. - The town is in the region of Lower Shabelle which its capital, Merca, was seized a week ago by Somali armed forces with a help of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping soldiers after Al-Qaeda linked insurgent fighters retreated there. A huge crowd of the residents from all wal…

At least five children were confirmed dead and more than 10 others were fatally wounded after a powerful explosive device with which they were playing went off in Bal'ad area, Somalia's central region of middle Shabelle, an official said. The children were said to have had fun with what described an anti-tank mine near their Dugsi -a local name referred to school that teaches the Qu'ran -before it detonated itself. - Speaking to the local media the area’ chief Mr Abdi Jinow Alasow said the victims had picked up the volatile around and started playing with it until it went off. “It was a powerful explosion and the bomb went off as the children were playing with …

A powerful car bomb hit Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Monday, leaving Transitional Federal Government's (TFG) member of parliament Mahamud Ibrahim Abdi Garwayn dead and wounding at least six other people. The key ex- minister for commerce and industry was driving his saloon car before it was crumbled by the explosion described as a bomb planted beneath the driver's seat near Ba'ad market in Hamarwayn district, one of the areas which host government officials. - Speaking to the press local at the scene Banadir region deputy Mayor in charge of security Warsame Mahamed Hasan Jodah confirming the incident said the preliminary results had shown that the blast might have or…

Somali Islamist rebel group Al -shabab is calling for the residents across the insurgent controlled area to join its loyalist fighters against Somali Transitional Federal Government Forces (TFG) and their strong allied battalion from African Mission in Somalia. The Islamists now seem to be under siege as they battle with their rival fighters from different directions including looming air strikes in their stronghold regions in the country's southern and central parts. - “Men, women, youths and elders should know that they have a role to play to fight alongside the jihadists against this continuing war. This is a war that they want to destroy Islam and peace that we have,” ur…

Somali veteran journalist on Sunday was pronounced dead at a hospital in somalia‘s capital city, Mogadishu, shortly after an indentified gunman shot him in the head in the same city, said eyewitness and an official. According to the eyewitness the goon who heavily disguised himself as a government security officer approached the late Abdisalan Sheikh Hasan Hiis, based in Mogadishu for the Horn Cable Television, before opening fire that hit him in the head in a neighbourhood of Hamar Jajab. - “May God rest his soul in eternal paradise ,the journalist was trying to pack a car near Madina Hotel before he was shot in the head”, said an eyewitness adding the scene is also n…

President of Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Shiekh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Monday granted an amnesty to 74 prisoners from a central prison camp in his country's capital city, Mogadishu, an official said. The District Commissioner of Karan, in the capital, Abdullahi Mahamed Roble was among those who had luck to benefit from the official pardon. - A Somali martial court sentenced Roble to a ten year term in prison few weeks ago after he was arraigned before it over an allegation relating to misappropriation of humanitarian aid intended to hundreds of internally displaced persons in his area. Speaking to journalists in Mogadishu the Deputy for TFG’s ministry of Justi…

At least two people have been confirmed dead while five others have been injured in Somalia's capital city ,Mogadishu, after fighting broke out between soldiers attached to Somali Transitional Government forces at an aid distribution centre near an internally displaced Persons's camp of Bad-Bado today, an eyewitness said. - Most of the victims are reportedly the members of those families living in the camp. “In fact the people were calmly in queues to receive relief food before the incident took place. All of a sudden we heard several gunshots near the centre”, an eyewitness said. He added that shortly after the tragedy heavy government troops in conjunction with t…

A high ranking delegation from Kenya led by the country's minister for foreign affairs Moses Wetangu'la and his colleague defence minister Mahamed Yusuf Haji met Somali transitional federal government's top officials including President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and his prime minister Abdiweli Mahamed Ali Gas in the capital city, Mogadishu, for talks which majored on how to jointly enhance the deteriorating security along the border between the two countries. - The meeting comes barely a week after units of Kenyan forces alongside with pro-Somali government combatants launched a fierce battle against fighters loyal to Somalia’s most powerful Islamist insurgent group al-s…

Al-Qaeda successfully delivered its humanitarian aid to Somalia in the Horn Africa, al-Shabab, - an Al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist rebel movement, claimed. It distributed the provisions, described as the first time ever in the history of the country, to the internally displaced people (IDPs) living in Al-Yasir, the militant sponsored IDPs camp which is near Mogadishu. - The charities said to be made up of rice, wheat flour, copies of the Holy Book of Islam (Koran), copies of Islamic prayer books, milk, hijabs (Muslim woman’s clothing) and money in cash were cordially welcomed by officials from the insurgents in the camp. Regions, central and southern parts of the country, fall unde…

Hundreds of Somalis on Sunday held a huge rally in Konis Football Stadium in the country's capital city, Mogadishu, to express their anger against the deadly suicide attack that killed 70 people and wounded more than 200 in the same city last week. During the protest people were shouting with anti-al-Shabab slogans. - The country’ s top government officials including president Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mahamed Ali Gas and other senior officials also shared their feelings of anger on the tragedy with demonstrators during the protest. The leaders jointly denounced the bloodbath, urging anybody in the country should try to preach a message of peace in ord…

A high ranking delegation from Uganda lead by the country's Minister for Defense Dr. Crispus Kiyonga arrived in Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu, for talks on how to double Uganda's mission to secure the fragile Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) from its rival groups including fighters loyal to the hard-line group, al-Shabab islamist militants. - Uganda and Burundi are some African countries that provide peacekeeping troops to Somalia through AMISOM. Dr. Kiyonga also met Somali President Shiekh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed at Villa Somalia, for the first time since AMISOM began security operations, in that country five years ago. After hours of touring the capital,…

Somali prominent musician, Keynan Abdi Warsame, paid a visit on Sunday to the bullet and starvation-ridden capital, Mogadishu, of his motherland country of Somalia for the first time ever in two decades after he fled there due to the 1991 civil war. He is back to support with humanitarian aid. - Keynan, a Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist and poet, visited several institutions in the capital including the hospitals and mushroom camps of internally displaced persons in Mogadishu, where he pledged his full support to assist the people. He became a world icon with his rousing 2010 FIFA World Cup song ‘Waving Flag’. According to local reports, Keynan was mobbed by hundreds of his…

Somali security forces in conjunction with African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) on Saturday discovered a colossal cache of weapons in Bakaraha area - one of sections recently abandoned by al-Shabab Islamist militants, in the country's capital, Mogadishu, according to local media reports. - The rebels had withdrawn their militant fighters from the bases they had all over the capital last week after they had some days of bitter confrontation with Somalia’s interim government forces backed by AMISOM. It is believed that the discovered weapons were being used by the remnants of rebels carrying out hit-and – run attacks and possibly planting mines against government sol…

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said his government military has defeated the country's most powerful Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab. His words came shortly after the loyalist fighters of the militant group had surprisingly abandoned all their positions in Mogadishu, the country's capital city. - Although the Islamists had admitted that they deserted their various trenches warfare across the capital lonely, but rejected Sharif’s claim saying that their Friday’s retreat was ‘military tactics’. Speaking to a pro-al- Shabab radio station of Andulus based in Mogadishu, the militants’ spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahamud Rage said his group fight…

One of Kenya's key leaders for peace building and conflict resolutions in Africa and the rest of the world, mother Dekha Ibrahim Abdi has passed on. She was the first African, the first Muslim and the second woman to have won the prestigious Hesse Peace Prize in 2009 in Germany. She died after a motor crash at age 47 on July 14 in a Kenya hospital. - On that fateful day, Abdi was travelling with her husband Abdinoor, and their driver to a peace conference in Garissa, when their car crashed into a truck. Her husband and driver died instantly. Dekha sustained heavy injuries and was airlifted to Nairobi, where she died shortly afterwards at the Aga Khan Hospital. Her birthplace of Waji…

Somalia's most powerful Islamist insurgent group Al-shabab has officially admitted at a press conference that without outside support it could not combat a bruising drought effects with high number of malnourished children in the areas under its control. Somalia is going through its worst drought in 60 years. - Having banned international aid agencies from operating in the country, the group has now rescinded its decision and has granted access to both international and local charities to feed the famine victims. Initially, Al-shabab had accused aid personnel of anti-Islam and spies for the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the western world. The insurgents have n…

Somalia's Premier Abdiweli Mohammed Ali Gas has appointed a special national team for the fight against the widespread of drought amid reports of high malnutrition particularly in children and elderly persons across the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. - Briefing the press in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu he emphasized on food crisis linked with deep uprooted drought effects in the country. He told the press that his government on has discussed a way forward to fight against the escalating effect of drought nationwide, and he was in the process of helping the increasing drought affected families. The team selected from cabinet ministers and members of …

A veteran online reporter, Faysal Mohamed, in Somali semi-autonomous region of Puntland, has been slapped with a one year jail term. The Bossaso court sentenced him for publishing two articles claiming two men murdered recently were members of the Puntland security while the other said locals are mounting pressure on president Abdirahman Mahamed Farole to resign. - Mohamed works with the Hiiraan online news portal. Media watches have described the development as an intensive anti-media operation to muzzle the press in the region. Journalists in Somalia are commonly arrested, tortured, extorted, robbed and most cruelly killed by all sides involved in Somalia’s dirty political struggl…

Somalia president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has granted amnesty to six foreigners made up of three Britons, two Kenyans and one American after a week and a half of court conviction of bringing millions of dollars in cash illegally into the country, allegedly intended to pay out to Somali pirates as ransom. - The group was said to have landed in the Horn of Africa country to reach a possible deal with pirates to release ships they had hijacked, according to local media reports. The foreigners were arraigned on June 18 before the Banadir regional court in the capital city Mogadishu. The court convicted them to different jail terms ranging from 10 to 15 years as well as heavy fines in the …

Armed gunmen have attacked a mosque in parts of Ufeyn district of Bari region in Puntland where at least 4 people killed, wounding several others according to witnesses, reports. Locals said that the murdered people were clerics from the mosque and prayed the early Morning Prayer in the mosque. - More of the police forces of Puntland had reportedly reached at the scene where the attack took place and started operations there though there were no suspects captured for the event so far. On the other hand, the security forces of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland have jailed 10 people suspected for the responsibility of insecurity activities happened in Bosaso, the centre of Bari region…

Somalia has jailed six foreigners for bringing millions of dollars in cash illegally into the country, allegedly intended to pay out to Somali pirates as ransoms with a possible deal to release ships being hijacked and held hostage somewhere in the country's long insecurity coastal region, officials said. - The six men include three British nationals; two Kenyans and an American. The two men accused of carrying the money were sentenced for 15 years while others received 10 years serving in prison. The men were arrested on the 24th May at an airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu by the security officers there shortly after they landed from two light aircrafts they had trav…

At least 12 civilians have been confirmed dead and more than 20 others sustained injuries in the latest series of intensified clashes that broke out on Saturday in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, according to local news reports. Many are said killed after they were caught in fire exchanges between the two warring factions over the control of the capital. - Shabelle.net reported that some of the victims were rushed to hospitals of Daynile and Keysanay in the Banadir region. The war between the Somali interim government armed forces and the militant fighters of Al-Shabab group had forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes for safety in neighbouring countries. According to l…

Somali security forces at an airport in Mogadishu detained two airplanes along with their six passengers on Tuesday following a suspicion raised by airport security officers over the act of exchanging heavy luggage between the two aircrafts that landed in the capital, according to a government official. - Interior minister Abdishakur Farah Hassan said that during the inspection the security forces discovered about US$3.6 million, according to the VOA. He said the planes had requested special permission to land in Mogadishu. All six passengers were said to be foreigners, where three of the suspects arrested are British, two are Kenyans and one American, the reports added. Farah told Somali…

Somalia MPs are calling for presidential elections in August 2011. According to local media reports in Kenya, the MPs accused Somali's President and Prime Minister for opposing the polls in the pretext that it would divide the troubled nation. - "We would like to seize this opportunity to express herewith our deepest dismay and disillusionment of the President's and Prime Minister's reluctance to abide by the decisions of the Transitional Federal Parliament of Somalia adopted on February 3, 2011," the MPs said in a statement. They included Sheikh Mudey, MPs Mustafa Dhuhol, Awad Ahmed Ashareh, Osman Mokhtar, Abukar Abdi Oman and former Prime Minister Hassan Abshir,…

The militant group Al-Shabaab has vowed that they will avenge the killing of world terrorist ring leader Osama Bin Laden, adding that his death will not have an effect on their present power in Somalia, local media reported. Bin Laden was killed in a US ground operation in Pakistan last week. - The rebels’ spokesperson Sheikh Ali Mahamud Rage told a press briefing over the weekend that the death of al-Qaeda leader will not sway the group from its strong-point. “It will not have any negative effect on us the death of our brother Osama Bin Laden, our brother was a servant chosen by God to revive the dignity of Muslims and his blood will never be forgotten in such an easy way, b…

The Kenyan government has reduced the rising prices of food and fuel, in an effort hoped to see the East Africans eat enough food and not sleep in darkness. The development follows weeks of peaceful street demonstrations in the capital, Nairobi in which Kenyans asked for heavy levies on the basic human needs lifted. - Both president Mwai Kibaki and his prime minister Raila Odinga ordered the considerable reduction of prices of food and fuel to normalize the cost of living in the nation. The local media reported that Odinga announced the removal of taxes on kerosene at a Parliamentary session on Thursday. Kerosene is the most used fuel for cooking and lighting in Kenyan homes. "Fo…

At least seven football fans have been confirmed dead in what has been described as a situation of stampede that broke out at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on Saturday night when the Kenyan Premier League Match between Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards was going on, local media has reported. - The reports add that the trampled situation might have been triggered by a heavy rain that was pouring down concurrently. “There were many people at the stadium when it started raining they were struggling to get into the VIP center stand, causing the stamped,” Dr Andrew Suleh said, according to the Sunday Nation. Dr Suleh is the head of the Kenyan Premier League Medical department.…

Al-shabab has imposed a total ban on mobile telephone money transfer in Somalia. The electronic money transfer locally known as the Zaad service of Hormuud, Golis and Telcom Telecommunication Companies have been given till 31st December 2011 as their headline date to stop electronic money transfer into the country. - According to local media report a three paged statement has explained reasons behind the ban. The militants accused the service to be a threat to livelihoods of low income earners and the wealth generation in the community in general. They added that the service is based on western ideology which its benefit will finally empty into the pocket of western nations. They…

The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia strongly denies that its troops are providing "medicine infected with HIV and AIDS" to communities in the horn of Africa nation. The Al-Qaeda inspired militant group Al-shabaab made the claims early this week and warned people from taking such medicine. - However, AMISCOM spokesman Major Barigye Bahuko said the troops are providing free medical care to the sick as part of their social responsibilities. Maj Bahuko said the peacekeepers would not rest on their loins and would continue to provide free medical care at their health centres despite a call by Shiekh Ali Mahamed Hussein, Al-shabaab governor of Badadir region on civilians…

Somali pirates holding the MV Iceberg1 and its crew of 22 at a Somali coast have threatened to kill and sell the body organs of their hostages if their demanded ransom is not met as soon as possible, according to Alshahid.net. They said they would open bid for the essential organs of the hostages. - The reports say that a Ghanaian hostage sent a short message to an Accra-based radio station, Citi FM, saying he would soon be killed and kidneys and eyes will be sold. The sender of the message has also added the pirate leader told them that if they would not be given their money which they want soon, they will sell the body organs of the captives, arguing that they will get more money than what…

Ethiopian troops have detained five people in the area of Baar-dhooya'a in the county of Baladweyn,central Somalia, following a series of military operation that the soldiers have reportedly been carrying out over the past few days. Those who have been arrested include elders and youth of the community. - The local media reports also add that the foreign soldiers backed by the forces of the Interim Federal Government of Somalia have made their several military bases in the area. The region, Hiraan, has a long sharing border with Ethiopia. Earthier in this month the Islamist militants engaged serious clashes with the Somalia government forces in the region. The region is one th…

The president of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has welcomed the resignation of the Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, who stepped down from the Transitional Federal Government earlier on Tuesday, according to Xanano. - Sharif thanked those who triggered Sharmake’s resignation, saying the move will end the long running of political turmoil between the two top bosses of the government. Sharif said he would appoint a new Prime Minister in a few day and hopes his successor will play a pivot role to resolve conflict in the beleaguered country. Sharmake is the third Prime Minister to have resigned in Somalia.

The president of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has reiterated that his administration is ready to enter into peace negotiations with the Islamist groups fighting against the government. He said that would be possible if they are ready to lay down their weapons. - Sharif has particularly called on the members of Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam to the table over a peace process, according to Shabel.net. Speaking to more 300 Somali parliamentarians in Mogadishu Sharif paved the way for talks with insurgents to end years of political uncertainties in the country.

Al- Shabab, an Islamist group fighting against the transitional federal government of Somalia, burnt food aid in Mogadishu, over allegation that the foodstuffs had expiry date. The insurgent fighters raided a number of markets in the city and seized more than 500 bags of maize and wheat which they had attributed to the WFP then set fire to them. - The armed militia vowed to track down and continue their operations on the “expiry food” in the markets and if found they would do the same in the eye of public, local media added. WFP, the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger, is one of the various international aid groups finding harder situation to o…