http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14588960 August 19, 2011 Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) said Turkey would open an embassy in Mogadishu to help distribute aid Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family have arrived in Somalia’s capital to highlight the need for greater famine relief. The visit to war-torn Mogadishu is the first by a leader from outside [...]
Category Archives: Regional
Ethiopia counts the cost of East Africa’s crisis
August 16, 2011 – 4:15 pm
Independent, UK August 14, 2011 Emily Dugan Its population is starving while the country takes in more Somali refugees REUTERS Somali children wait outside one of the four refugee camps established along Ethiopia’s border with Somalia. Water rations have dropped from 10 litres a day per person to three Since the food crisis began in [...]
Somalia: Rights group says all sides guilty of crime
August 16, 2011 – 4:03 pm
BBC August 14, 2011 HRW says Somalis are not being given the protection they are entitled to Human Rights Watch has said all sides in Somalia’s are guilty of serious violations of international law. The campaign group says civilians are bearing the brunt not just of a terrible famine but also a failure by any [...]
Council on Foreign Relations: Al-Shabaab and Somalia’s Spreading Famine
August 13, 2011 – 12:50 am
Council on Foreign Relations August 10, 2011 Interviewee: Rashid Abdi, Analyst, Horn of Africa, International Crisis Group Interviewer: Jayshree Bajoria, Senior Staff Writer The famine declared in five areas in southern Somalia is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks, according to the UN Office for [...]
Ethiopia rebuffs UN recommendation to halt dam construction over environmental concerns
August 13, 2011 – 12:45 am
Washington Post/AP August 11, 2011 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopian officials say they will not heed the U.N.’s recommendation to halt construction on a dam that the world body says endangers a world heritage site. Project manager Azeb Asnake said Thursday that government impact studies found Gilgel Gibe III dam does not endanger Lake Turkana, [...]
With U.S. Support, Private Security Company Trains African Troops in Somalia
August 11, 2011 – 8:48 pm
NY Times August 10, 2011 JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT Todd Heisler/The New York Times A Ugandan soldier leads Richard Rouget, a military adviser with Bancroft Global Development, to the roof of a building to monitor a firefight. More Photos JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT MOGADISHU, Somalia — Richard Rouget, a [...]
Somalia ‘needs more AU troops’ after al-Shaba pullout
August 10, 2011 – 12:10 am
BBC August 9, 2011 AU peacekeepers have led an offensive against the al-Shaba Islamist group The African Union force commander in Somalia has appealed for thousands of extra troops to secure the capital, after militant Islamists left the city. Maj Gen Fred Mugisha said the militant al-Shabab group still threatened stability in Mogadishu and troops [...]
Somali refugees pack capital after rebels quit
August 9, 2011 – 11:56 pm
Reuters August 9, 2011 Mohamed Ahmed and Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU – Thousands of Somali refugees, fleeing famine and years of violence, streamed into Mogadishu on Monday searching for food after Islamist rebels withdrew from the capital. The al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab insurgents began pulling their fighters out of Mogadishu over the weekend, raising hopes that [...]
Somali pirate ransoms skirt US directives
August 9, 2011 – 11:39 pm
Reuters August 8, 2011 David Clarke and Mohamed Ahmed NAIROBI/MOGADISHU – A $3.6 million ransom seized in Somalia in May was destined for a pirate boss subject to U.S. sanctions, an illustration of how a criminal enterprise that costs the global economy billions of dollars pays scant heed to policy directives from Washington. Documents obtained [...]
Famine: ‘Hundreds of thousands of kids could die’
August 9, 2011 – 11:34 pm
AP August 8, 2011 JASON STRAZIUSO DADAAB, Kenya — Hundreds of thousands of Somali children could die in East Africa’s famine unless more help arrives, a top U.S. official warned Monday in the starkest death toll prediction yet. To highlight the crisis, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden visited a refugee camp filed with [...]