A community portal about Somalia with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Somalia, formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a coastal nation at the Horn of Africa in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia...
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A community portal about Somalia with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Somalia, formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a coastal nation at the Horn of Africa in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the north and mid-west, Kenya on its south-west, and the Gulf of Aden on its north, and the Indian Ocean at its east. The Somali state currently exists solely in a de jure capacity; Somalia has no recognized central government authority nor any other feature associated with an established independent state. De facto authority resides in the hands of the governments for the unrecognized entities of Somaliland, Puntland, the Supreme Islamic Courts Council and the weak, but United Nations -recognized, Interim transitional government in Baidoa about 250 kilometers north-west of the capital Mogadishu. Violence has plagued Somalia since warlords ousted former Supreme President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
LONDON (Reuters) - Ships using the Indian Ocean will not receive the same level of naval protection from pirates as those in the Gulf of Aden because military resources are tight, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia. In a letter this month to maritime union Nautilus International and seen by Reuters, Miliband said pirates were... Read Full Story
The U.N. Security Council was expected to approve an arms embargo and other tough sanctions against Eritrea for supplying arms to opponents of the Somali government and refusing to resolve a border dispute with neighboring Djibouti. The U.N.'s most powerful body was likely to approve the sanctions resolution on Wednesday, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It would ban the import and export of weapons to Eritrea and call on... Read Full Story
Somali pirates holding a British couple hostage said they would be allowed to celebrate Christmas, as the pair appeared set to enter their ninth week in captivity, according to a report Wednesday. Paul and Rachel Chandler were kidnapped on October 23 when their yacht, the Lynn Rival, was boarded in the Indian Ocean by pirates patrolling the waters. The pair have been moved between safe houses close to Haradheere in Somalia to prevent their capture by other gangs or Islamist insurgents, The... Read Full Story
Residents walk along a street filled with smoke rising from a burning petrol station in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, Saturday, Dec. 19. The cause of the fire was not established. ( Reuters )
Somalia’s Chaos Spreading Far Beyond Its Frontier And Coastline — Times Online
On the first Thursday in December a young Danish-Somali man in women’s clothes blew himself up in a suicide attack in Mogadishu. Four days earlier, Somali pirates had hijacked a 300,000-tonne supertanker 800 miles out to... Read Full Story
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Artillery shelling between Islamist rebels and Somali government forces killed at least 14 people and wounded 28 others in Mogadishu on Sunday, residents and a rights group said. Insurgents fired mortars at government troops, prompting a heavier response of shells that killed civilians in several suburbs of Mogadishu and made residents cower indoors. "Fourteen civilians died and 28 others were wounded on Saturday night and Sunday morning in mortar shell exchanges in... Read Full Story
A police official and a journalist say a bomb blast and a separate mortar attack on a radio station in Somalia's capital have killed eight people. Mogadishu's regional police chief Col. Ahmed Hassan Malin says Monday's roadside bomb targeted a vehicle belonging to a government official who defected from the insurgency. The official was not in the car but the blast killed his driver and four other civilians in south Mogadishu. Journalist Abshir Abdi Ahmed at the Radio Voice of Democracy in... Read Full Story
At least seven people, mainly civilians, were killed and five others injured in the Somali capital on Sunday as Islamist insurgents and pro-government forces exchanged mortar fire, officials said. Islamist insurgents fired several rounds of mortar shells at southern Mogadishu?s police headquarters, leaving one police officer dead and three others wounded. Mortar shells fired in retaliation from government positions killed six civilians, officials and witnesses said. "The insurgents fired... Read Full Story
Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned ship and its 21 crew members, including 14 Filipinos, after more than a month in captivity, the Philippine government and the ship's owner said Friday. The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, reported that the MV Delvina was heading to Mombasa with its crew, who were safe and in good health. Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said the ship, seized on Nov. 5, was released around 2 a.m. Friday (1 p.m... Read Full Story
A Somali soldier in Bakara market, Mogadishu. Tensions are growing between al-Shabaab fighters and the foreign jihadists but President Ahmed’s Government is too weak to take advantage of the differences
West Warns That Somalia Is Becoming A Haven For International Terrorists — Times Online
Pass beyond what is described as government territory in the Somali capital — a few blocks between the airport, the harbour and the presidential palace — and you are at the mercy of al-Shabaab, the... Read Full Story
A naval spokesman says sailors from a Portuguese warship boarded a suspected pirate ship off the coast of Somalia. Lt. Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes says the crew of the Alvares Cabral identified a ladder, boarding hooks and weapons on a skiff during a patrol in the Gulf of Aden around dawn Friday. A naval helicopter approached the skiff and fired warning shots but the men threw the equipment overboard. Sailors from the warship inspected the skiff and ensured there were no weapons or... Read Full Story
