Monday Dec. 11, 2006
At least 70 government forces, who hail from Gedo province in southern Somalia, defected from the government military camp dubbed Manas on the edge of Baidoa, a temporary seat for the transitional government. The soldiers claimed they left their military barracks because of difficulties in life, and lack of salary.More..

Saturday Dec. 09, 2006
The powerful Islamic courts union controlling in many parts of Southern Somalia including the capital city Mogadishu has organized a huge demonstration at Konis Stadium, one of the main soccer playgrounds in Mogadshu after Friday prayers to condemn the endorsement made by the United Nations Security Council to consider authorizing Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) and other African Union countries to deploy troops to Somalia.More..

Thursday Dec. 07, 2006
The long awaited approval of US backed draft resolution that would let regional peacekeeping forces be deployed in the troubled country, Somalia, was unanimously endorsed by UN Security Council member states on Wednesday. The arms embargo that was imposed on Somalia in 1991 when flow of arms in the country was massive was relieved finally .More..

Wednesday Dec. 06, 2006
Islamic Courts security officers in Mogadishu have explained gunfire exchanges that have taken place around former beverage factory on the suburb of Mogadishu. Yusuf Isse Sheik Ahmed known as Kabo-Kutukade, the Islamic Courts security officer in eastern part of Mogadishu has held a press conference in the capital, indicating that an armed group, who forcefully occupied the land of the beverage firm for years, have been evicted after an exchange of gunfire between them [Islamist fighters] and the armed occupants.More..

Monday Dec. 04, 2006
A huge rally against Ethiopian military intervention in Somalia and the US backed draft resolutions that calls on lifting the arms embargo on Somalia partially to let regional peacekeepers enter the country with arms has taken place in the biggest stadium in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday morning. Several thousands of people, most of them public school students with placards written in anti-Ethiopian slogans and defense of Islam in the horn of Africa, have partaken in the rally that ended in peace.More..

Friday Dec. 01, 2006
At least seven people have been killed and six others have been wounded in what believed to be a car bomb attack at the main gateway of Baidoa town the makeshift capital of the Somali transitional federal government. The explosion believed to be a suicide act occurred near a checkpoint at the Bakin main road to Baidoa city killing seven persons.More..

Thursday Nov. 30, 2006
After Hours of debate about the worsening situation in the war-ravaged country Somalia, UN Security Council has finally urged members to abide by preserving the arms embargo imposed on Somalia in 1992, condemning countries letting flow of weapons in Somalia. Security Council member states including the United States were expected to pass a draft resolution to partially ease the arms embargo on Somalia so that African peacekeepers from the Intergovernmental authority on Development (IGAD) member states would be deployed in Somalia.More..

Wednesday Nov. 29, 2006
The Union of Islamic Courts consultative leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has advised US president Goerge W. Bush to back down the draft plan of lifting the arms embargo on Somalia. Aweys has told London based Asharqalawsat that he would call on the international community and the UN Security Council not to elevate the arms embargo on Somalia, warning that lifting the embargo would give rise to regional wars.More..

Tuesday Nov. 28, 2006
Somalia 's Union of Islamic Courts has accused neighbouring Ethiopia of shelling a town about 630km north of the capital, Mogadishu, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, an Islamic courts leader, told a crowd of more than 10,000 people: "Ethiopian soldiers have massed around Bandiradley and started firing missiles toward our positions "Their tanks are trying to surround the area and now they are about 10km away from the town where our fighters are based."More..

Tuesday Nov. 28, 2006
Thanks for your participation of STS Somalia members contribution of floods disaster in middle shabele region especially in balad area also I am giving you many thanks for payment of the 50$ dollar and I received it from Dahabshil bank to day. After that I would like to congratulate you that we have all ready obtained most of the money which we allocated for the floods of balad area from the STS Somalia side contribution.More..

Sunday Nov. 26, 2006
As we promised on our last meeting we yesterday 23of November to Bal,ad and surrounding areas of middle shabele region where the floods have affected thousands of families

After our team led by STS Somalia chairman Yusuf M Abdi accompanying with the chairman farmer resource group Ali Istiila and STS Somalia secretary Abdirizak Ali Omar reached there the elders and responsibilities of Bal,ad and surrounded villages have recognized Ali Istiila who was one of the officials of ministry agriculture{ Balad coordinator of ministry agriculture } and near villages at time of former government in Siyad Barre welcome us warmly and miraculous. More..

Sunday Nov. 26, 2006
Decisions have been issued unanimously in a press conference held by the Union of Islamic Courts consultative council leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys and the government's parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden in the capital Mogadishu. More..

Saturday Nov. 25, 2006
The powerful Islamic courts movement in Somalia has declared their readiness on their side to defend off what they called Ethiopian aggression shortly after the Ethiopian premier Meles Zanawi said his country has completed preparations for war with neighboring Somalia's powerful Islamist movement, alongside hesitating peace efforts . More..

Tuesday Nov. 21, 2006
Puntland President Gen. Addeh Museh did not cite a reason for his decision, but it comes amid increasing fears that the Council of Islamic Courts will try to seize his territory. The move also isolates Somalia's official government, which has watched helplessly as the Islamic movement steadily gained ground since June. The U.N. envoy to Somalia tried to bolster the fragile administration Monday, urging leaders to restart peace talks with the Islamists in order to avert a war. More..

Sunday Nov. 19, 2006
Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said khat was a bad influence. Many Somali men, especially gunmen, spend hours chewing it each day.He also warned squatters to vacate public buildings they have occupied After 15 years of conflict, many ministries are full of people who have fled fighting in their home regions. Eyewitnesses say one person was shot dead by Islamist fighters on Thursday following protests over khat shortages. More..

Thursday Nov. 16, 2006
The finance minister of the Puntland regional government has said that "meetings without government approval" cannot be held in Bossaso, the commercial capital of the region. Minister Mohamed Ali “Gaagaab”, who is also chairman of the Bari and Karkar Regions Security Committee, made the comments while speaking to local media on Wednesday. More..

Wednesday Nov. 15, 2006
Floods caused by torrential rain in parts of southern Somalia had killed more than 23 people and displaced thousands over the past five days, aid workers and residents said yesterday. Ali Bashi, head of the Fanoole Human Rights Organisation, said the highest number of deaths had been reported in the Gedo region, which borders both Ethiopia and Kenya. More..

Tuesday Nov. 14, 2006
Osama bin Laden declared war on what he considered a "weak horse" (1996) and a "paper tiger" (1998) after watching American troops ordered to pull out of Somalia after only 18 casualties in 1993. The attacks by thugs and terrorists in Iraq today are aimed, not at our troops or the innocent Iraqis who die in them, but at our will to fight. America, our enemies believe, has no stomach for battle. More.

Monday Nov. 13, 2006
Islamist forces expanded their reach in Somalia on Sunday by seizing towns near Galcaio, in the country's north, which until now had been relatively peaceful.The Islamists then turned their guns toward Galcaio and began shelling the outskirts of the city, witnesses said. More.

Sunday Nov. 12, 2006
Somalia's weak government on Saturday rejected a new peace initiative by a renegade lawmaker and the Islamic movement controlling much of the southern part of the war-ravaged country. More.

Saturday Nov. 11, 2006
Islamic Courts militia in the Jubba regions arrested a number of civilians last Wednesday, a source who chose to remain anonymous informed .The source confirmed that 16 men, who all belong to the Harti clan, were arrested by Islamist authorities from their homes in the outskirts of Kismayo, the regional capital. More.

Thursday Nov. 09, 2006
Islamist fighters who control a large area of southern Somalia have stormed a ship hijacked by pirates and recovered it. They said yesterday they would prosecute their captives according to Sharia law, with the amputation of the left leg and right arm.More.

Wednesday Nov. 08, 2006
Voters elected a black Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress on Tuesday after a race in which he advocated quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and made little mention of his faith. Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed retiring Democrat Martin Sabo in a seat that has been held by Democrats since 1963. More..

Monday Nov. 06, 2006
Galkayo is currently under the control of allied anti-Islamist forces: Puntland, a semiautonomous state in northern Somalia, and militias loyal to government-allied Col. Abdi Qeibdid, one of Mogadishu's defeated warlords.More..

Sunday Nov. 05, 2006
At least 3 people were injured after a gunfight erupted inside Baardhere between militias loyal to Somali Defense Minister Col. Barre “Hirale” Adan Shire and private security militia guarding the Hormuud Telecommunications building More..

Saturday Nov. 04, 2006
The three, brothers Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub and another man, Marat Sumolsky, 35, are among a group of eight foreigners with suspected links to al-Qaeda who are facing terrorism charges in Yemen over an alleged plot to smuggle arms to Somalia. More..

Thursday Nov. 02, 2006
A Somali minister said on Wednesday war in his country appeared likely and talks between the government and Islamists were postponed with mediators urging the Horn of Africa nation's rivals to exercise restraint. After both sides failed to meet face-to-face in three days of Arab League-sponsored discussions in Sudan, the Islamists called for a delay and an international fact-finding mission to be sent to the chaotic country to resolve "fundamental issues". More..

Wednesday Nov. 01, 2006
Diplomats say they are frustrated by the delay and hope the peace talks will begin soon.Negotiations were set to start on Monday but the Somali government delegation did not arrive until late Monday evening.The Union of Islamic Courts has refused to meet with the government delegation until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia.More..

Tuesday Oct. 31, 2006
Islamic leaders Monday banned youthful Somalis from marrying without the consent of their parents, saying such unions violate Islam. "It is against the teaching of our religion and parents do not approve of it," said Sheik Mahad Mohamed Sheik Hassan, chairman of the regional Islamic court in Wanlawien. More..

Monday Oct. 30, 2006
Ethiopia's confidence arises from its perceived military advantage over the Islamists. According to Jane's Defence Weekly, the Ethiopian National Defence Army is estimated to have between 120,000 and 150,000 troops. It is the best equipped military machine in the Horn of Africa, boasting of massive stocks of military hardware that includes old but still serviceable Soviet made T-55 battle tanks, heavy artillery, multiple rocket launchers and towed howitzers.More..

Sunday Aug 13, 2006
The Islamic militants who control Somalia's capital and much of the country's south are "moderate and peace-loving people," a member of Kenya's parliament said Saturday after meeting with the group in Mogadishu. Billow Kerow was part of a 12-member delegation from Kenya that met with the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts' militia, which the United States accuses of harboring al-Qaida terrorists.More..

Saturday Aug 12, 2006
The Somalis have nobody to blame but themselves for their basic plight. Although Somalia has only one ethnic group, one language and one religion, its people are deeply divided by clan, and when long-ruling dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, the clan leaders were unable to unite and form a new government. Instead, the country fell into civil war and anarchy. More..

Thursday Aug 10, 2006

POWER OF THE PRESS: Spreading the word about atrocities in Africa can help save the people suffering there

More than two years ago, on the Chad-Sudan border, I came across an oasis where 30,000 people from Darfur had taken refuge. There was no international aid available in that remote spot, so they were huddled under trees, shell-shocked, trying to keep their children alive. I went tree to tree and began interviewing. Under the first tree, I found two brothers. One had been shot in the neck and in the jaw his jaw was mostly gone and left for dead in a pile of corpses that included his parents. His brother, shot only in the foot, had managed to escape and had returned at night to bury his parents. But then he found his brother was still alive, so he left his parents' corpses and carried his brother traveling only at night for safety on his back for 49 days to this oasis. More..

Wednesday Aug 09, 2006
At least 15 nations are considering sending troops to be a part of an eventual U.N.-mandated inter- national force in southern Lebanon. Scores of others, such as the United States and Britain, have ruled out sending soldiers. Many of them are skittish about a Middle East quagmire or are stretched thin elsewhere. Over the whole enterprise hangs a Catch-22: Israel refuses to leave until the force is in place, and nations won't deploy forces until a cease-fire is in effect. More..

Tuesday Aug 08, 2006
Security is necessary, but so is attention to socioeconomic and political conditions as well. People need to be fed and clothed and provided with health care and jobs, none of which are priorities to the militia. More..

Monday Aug 07, 2006
Aided by an Ethiopian mediator, the leaders of Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government have resolved their differences over how to deal with an increasingly strong Islamic militia that controls much of the south, officials said Sunday.
Somalia's transitional government was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations to help the Horn of Africa country emerge from 16 years of anarchy and violence. More..

Sunday Aug 06, 2006
The council of Islamic Courts in the Somalia capital Mogadishu is receiving financial support for restoring the sanitation of the rubbish-filled city and also to secure peace and stability in the capital. The business people in the Somalia capital Mogadishu have on Saturday donated around 300,000 dollars to council of Islamic Courts to speed up the establishment of security in the capital after 16 years of anarchy . More..

Saturday Aug 05, 2006
The Somalis have called on the international community to support the transitional federal government of Somalia.Speaking to journalists at the Ethiopian Television Studio recently, the Somali people said the Union of Islamic Courts does not represent the people of Somalia. They said they would rally behind the legitimate federal transitional government (FTG) of Somalia. The Somalis commended the activities of the Ethiopian government to maintain peace in the region, and demanded that it should continue efforts geared toward bringing about lasting peace and stability in Somalia. More..

Friday Aug 04, 2006
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi refused to resign yesterday despite a mass exodus of cabinet ministers and mounting criticism over the deployment of Ethiopian troops to protect his feeble 18-month-old administration. Government spokesman Abdirahman Mohamed Nur Dinari said Gedi had been instead working to replace the 36 ministers who had resigned from the 102-member cabinet in the past week calling for Gedi's resignation, even after he escaped a vote of no confidence. More..

Thursday Aug 02, 2006
Somalia's interim government unravelled further yesterday with the resignation of another four top officials who blamed it on the premier's reluctance to reach out to a rival Islamist movement.
The departure of four junior ministers brought to 34 the number of senior officials to have left the Western-backed but virtually powerless government in less than a week. More..

Wednesday Aug 02, 2006
Stressing the importance of continued dialogue between Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, the senior United Nations envoy to the war-torn country said today that once a peace deal has been negotiated there may be a role for an unarmed observer force as a “neutral third party” in the conflict. More..

Tuesday Aug 01, 2006
Mogadishu, the capital of war-torn Somalia, is a much different place than it was in the days of "Black Hawk Down" more than a dozen years ago. So much so, in fact, that the international airport on the outskirts of the city is open and Sunday... Jubba Airways flew the first commercial flight from that strip in more than a decade. More..

Monday July 31, 2006
Ali Mohamed Gedi, Somalia's prime minister, survived a crucial no confidence motion in parliament yesterday, sparking a brawl in the legislature which saw armed police enter to take control.
Legislators punched each other and wrestled on the ground in chaotic scenes after Gedi garnered 88 votes versus 126 for his opponents - short of the two-thirds majority needed to censure him. More..

Sunday July 30, 2006
Somalia's prime minister has accused Libya, Egypt and Iran of fueling conflict in Somalia by supporting terrorists. Ali Mohammed Gedi said Saturday in Baidoa the three middle-eastern nations were backing Islamist militias that have taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, and much of Southern Somalia.Egypt's Foreign Ministry rejected the charge. More..

Saturday July 29, 2006
A Cabinet member of the government in Baidoa, widely regarded as powerless, was assassinated yesterday as he left a mosque, enraging hundreds of Somalis who rioted in the streets screaming, "We want a government that can restore law and order."  It was the second shooting of a lawmaker this week and the latest blow to an administration that has watched helplessly as Islamist militants with purported links to al Qaeda took control of the capital and much of southern Somalia. More..

Friday July 28, 2006
Somalia's virtually powerless government was unravelling as a fifth of its cabinet resigned in disgust and the administration's Islamic rivals took over the presidential palace in the capital of Mogadishu.Eighteen key ministers in the 102-member cabinet said on Thursday their government had failed to bring peace to this chaotic African nation as it emerged from 15 years of anarchy.More..

Thursday July 27, 2006
At least 19 ministers and deputy ministers in Somalia's transitional government have decided to resign, a cabinet minister has told the BBC. Public Works Minister Osman Ali Atto said he came back from the capital with an agreement from the Islamic courts that fresh talks be held. But he said that Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi was "an obstacle to progress" and had refused to listen. More..

Thursday July 27, 2006
A mystery cargo plane that landed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu yesterday has triggered accusations from the interim government that it was carrying weapons from Eritrea to support rival Islamists. In only the second arrival of a plane to Mogadishu's old international airport since Islamists re-opened it days ago, residents reported seeing a medium-sized aircraft with no recognisable identity land and unload large boxes. More..

Wednesday July 26, 2006
The leader of the Islamic militia that has taken hold of southern Somalia on Tuesday rebuffed a U.N. plan for peace talks with the government, saying he will not negotiate until the government expels all foreign troops. "Until Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil, we will never negotiate with the government," said Islamic militia leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys. More..

Tuesday July 25, 2006
A leader of the Islamic militia controlling most of southern Somalia said Monday that he will produce "corpses or POWs" to prove that neighboring Ethiopia has sent soldiers across the border to protect Somalia's weak government. Ethiopian and Somali government officials have not confirmed that Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia, despite widespread witness accounts that the soldiers arrived four days ago. More..

Monday July 24, 2006
Ethiopian troops moved further into Somalia yesterday, opening a new front in the American-led "war on terror". An estimated 5000 Ethiopian soldiers are believed to be inside Somalia, protecting the weak transitional government from an Islamist force that controls half the country. The US does not want Somalia to fall into the hands of the Islamists; so far, regional observers point out, neither the US nor any other UN Security Council member has condemned the Ethiopian invasion.More..

Sunday July 23, 2006
Ethiopian troops entered a second Somali town Saturday to protect the country's weak interim government, residents and U.N. workers said. The move angered the Islamic militia that controls most of Somalia and caused peace talks to collapse. About 200 Ethiopian troops, in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, moved into Wajid and took control of the airport, meeting no resistance, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals. More..

Saturday July 22, 2006
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in an angry radio broadcast, said Ethiopia deployed troops to the government's base in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, to bolster what he described as a puppet regime. He said President Abdullahi Yusuf, his longtime rival, has "been a servant of Ethiopia for a long time." "I am calling on the Somali people to wage a holy war against Ethiopians in Baidoa," said Aweys, who is accused by the U.S. government of having ties to al Qaeda. More..

Friday July 21, 2006
Ethiopian troops were yesterday in the Somali town of Baidoa, seat of Somalia's internationally backed but weak transitional government. According to witnesses their mission was to protect the administration from advancing Islamic forces. The claims were quickly denied by both Ethiopia and the largely powerless Somali government but witnesses insisted that Ethiopian soldiers had driven into Baidoa with about 20 military vehicles. More..

Thursday July 20, 2006
Somalia's prime minister has accused the nation's powerful Islamist movement of planning to attack the seat of the weak transitional government, raising already heightened tensions. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said Muslim militia had moved to within 40 kilometres of the government's base in Baidoa, northwest of Mogadishu, and intended to strike the town in violation of a truce. More..

Wednesday July 19, 2006
Heavily armed Islamist militia who control the capital advanced toward the seat of Somalia's interim administration on Wednesday, stoking fears of conflict and leading the government to put its troops on alert. "We see it as aggression toward government-controlled areas and the people who support us," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told Reuters from the government's provincial base in Baidoa. More..

Wednesday July 19, 2006
The Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the dominant Islamist movement in the narrow nation in the Horn of Africa, controls more than 20 percent of Somalian territory and 40 percent of the Somalian people. Mr. Cohen said Somalis have enjoyed more security and stability after the ICU's June takeover of the capital, Mogadishu, than they had in the past 15 years. More..

Tuesday July 18, 2006
Since the Union of Islamic Courts has seized control of Mogadishu on 5 June, life in Mogadishu is getting better, and people are optimistic. What is seen as a historic move, the last two weeks the visible and active weapons in the capital went into a single hand for the first time in 16 years, and the administration came under the control of the Islamic courts union. More..

Monday July 17, 2006
The men were freed on Saturday, and it wasn't clear if any ransom has been paid, said Roy Cimatu, the government's special envoy to the Middle East.The men were seized after their oil tanker, the United Arab Emirates-registered MT LIN1, offloaded its cargo at a southern Somali port on March 29, the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department said. More..

Sunday July 16, 2006
Islamists in Mogadishu have commandeered today militiamen and armed vehicles belonged by Muse Sudi Yalahow, former strong warlord in Mogadishu particularly northern district of Karan.9 armed vehicles including four Anti Aircraft carriers have been handed over Karan Islamic Court which members to Islamists Union in the Capital.More..

Saturday July 15, 2006
Somalia's weak, UN-backed government has refused to travel to Sudan for Saturday's peace talks with Islamists who control the capital, Mogadishu. The president accused the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) of breaking a truce agreed at the last Sudan talks. Correspondents say this is a setback for attempts to avoid a confrontation between the two groups. More..

Friday July 14, 2006
Somalia's nearly powerless interim government said on Friday it wants to postpone this weekend's peace talks with an Islamic militia that has seized control of nearly all of southern Somalia, saying the group has become increasingly radical. More..

Somalia military movements increase as talks near
Rivals surrender weapons in Somalia

Friday July 14, 2006
About 100 people staged the protest in the town of Jowhar, captured by the Union of Islamic Courts last month. Meanwhile, a Djibouti minister has reportedly said that the US would not be allowed to use its base there to attack Somalia's Islamists. More..

UN may consider peace mission in Somalia
Somalia : Mogdishu port is now Islamists Control