Somalia News

Aid organizations warned on Thursday that Somalia's worst fighting in months was aggravating an already dire humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa state, and joined world powers in condemning the violence.

The U.N. human rights chief says Somalia's insurgents and government troops are committing torture and other atrocities that might be war crimes.

More and more of the thousands fleeing fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, are young men trying to avoid being conscripted into the various militias, locals told IRIN.

Friday, 10 July 2009, 12:30 pm Press Release: United Nations New York, Jul 9 2009 4:10PM If the international community allows Somalia's Transitional Federal Government – forged in a process of consensus – to fail, the poverty-stricken Horn of Africa nation will be taken over by opposition groups employing tactics of coercion and ...

A Canadian has been arrested in Somalia for allegedly plotting to bomb leaders of a moderate Islamic group, according to local media reports that identified him as a trained member of the militant Al-Shabab. But the reports could not be verified yesterday due to the lack of press and foreign diplomats in the lawless country, particularly in the ...

Islamist fighters exchange gunfire with government forces in Mogadishu on Friday.

Itense diplomatic activity is underway in East African capitals aimed at saving Somalia's embattled government from a determined onslaught by well-financed radical Islamist rebels.

UN says offensive by Islamist militias devastating Somali capital, as almost 500,000 people forced to live in temporary shelter Families flee their homes in Mogadishu.

MOGADISHU: Heavy shelling between Somali rebels and government forces near the presidential palace killed at least 12 people on Sunday, witnesses said, and the prime minister looked for help from more African Union peacekeepers.

Much of Somalia's capital has become a ghost town as more than 200,000 residents have fled intensified clashes between Islamist insurgents and government troops, the U.N. and a medical charity said Tuesday.

The United States said on Saturday it would increase its military assistance to Somalia to help the transitional government restore sanity and the rule of law in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.

Women's groups in embattled Mogadishu are stepping into the aid vacuum to assist thousands more displaced by fighting in the capital, civil society activists said.

The United States will encourage Ethiopia not to return to Somalia as it would be against the interests of both Horn of African nations, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said on Saturday.

At least 23 Somalis, mostly civilians, were killed and more than fifty wounded in Mogadishu on Saturday in the latest clash between government troops and insurgents, medics said.

Extremist rebels in Somalia said Friday they will continue attacking African Union peacekeepers, after fighting this week killed more than 20 people and left hospitals so crowded that patients were being treated in tents.

Somalia's Islamist rebels threatened on Tuesday to attack Ethiopia after repeated witness reports that Ethiopian troops were back in the chaotic Horn of Africa country they withdrew from in January.

The al Shabaab insurgents, who have links to al Qaeda and include foreign Islamists among their ranks, control most of the south of Somlia and all but a few blocks of the capital after stepping up their attacks in the last two months.

Hardline Islamist militiamen in Somalia have stoned to death a man accused of raping and murdering a woman.

At least five people were killed and 14 others wounded Sunday in the Somali capital Mogadishu after suspected insurgents targeted the presidential compound with mortars and government forces responded with artillery fire, Radio Garowe reports.

African crises escalate as AU leaders meet - 1.4 million homeless so far this year in DRC, Sudan and Somalia 01 Jul 2009 05:35:00 GMT Source: Oxfam GB - UK Oxfam Website: http:/ / www.oxfam.org.uk Five people forced to flee every minute of 2009 in DRC, Sudan and Somalia, says Oxfam --------- Over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their ...