January 19’s Soup with the Supe event began with a song and dance performed by students from Whittier elementary school. The kids sang in Somali before a crowd of mostly Somali parents and community members, who were gathered to share a meal and participate in a question and answer session with Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. [...]

MOGADISHU — Ethiopian troops in battle tanks thrust into rebel-held Somalia regions Tuesday, sparking heavy fighting as they advanced towards the major Shebab stronghold of Baidoa, witnesses said. The latest unrest erupted just two days before world powers meet at a London conference on the Horn of Africa nation, which is beset by a litany [...]

TORONTO— The armed Islamist group Al-Shabab is increasingly recruiting Somali children, some as young as 10, forcing them to become fighters and wives, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday. Its ranks dwindling following a spike in fighting, the al-Qaeda-affiliated group has turned to children to bolster its numbers, said the study, based [...]

Returning to Somalia in 2011 after 19 years, and hearing the UN declare famine was heart-wrenching. We could see the evidence all around us in Dollow, which had become a transition post for Somalis en route to Ethiopia. The women we spoke to referred repeatedly to gaajo (hunger). The local district commissioner urged us to [...]

TABDA, Somalia — An 80-year-old Somali woman fondly recalled her younger days. There was peace in Somalia then, and people in this town of Tabda in the arid scrublands of the country’s south did not rely on the mercy of others for food. Khadra Muhamud Aden says food supplies to the area are running low [...]

The World’s biggest refugee camp, Dadaab, in northeastern Kenya marks its 20th anniversary this year. The camp, which was set up to host 90,000 people, now shelters nearly one-half million refugees. This United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) video presents a collage of photos and archive footage of Dadaab over the past 20 years. Early images [...]

(February 21, 2012) The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia is committed to bringing peace and stability to Somalia and will intensify the “Operation to Restore Peace and Stability across Somalia” that started on 31st December 2011 in collaboration with neighboring countries and support from International Community.   “The Operation to Restore Peace and Stability has [...]

MOMBASA, Kenya — A lawyer for a British man held in Kenya over alleged links to Somalia’s Islamist insurgency and possession of explosives says his client was beaten in prison to extract a confession. Chacha Mwita says his client Jermaine Grant and another suspect were beaten after their arrest in December. Mwita also says Grant, [...]

Somalis living in the UK say diaspora groups have not been properly consulted ahead of Thursday’s international conference in London aimed at setting a course for a country ravaged by war for two decades. Somali representatives of UK organisations addressed some of the questions raised by readers at a roundtable organised by Global development on [...]

Nairobi. Kenyan troops intensified attacks on Al-Shabaab in Somalia with air strikes on a key rebel settlement at the weekend.They carried out air strikes in Xhwayo Town, 30 kilometres from Belles Qoockani Town on their way to Afmadow. The commander of Kenya’s forces in central Somalia, Lt Col Jeff Nyagah, said Al-Shabaab insurgents had concentrated [...]