Somalia

Long associated with pirates, famine and bombs, Somalia showed a different face to the world this week as it welcomed foreign writers for the first time to its annual book fair. The event took place for the third time in the scarred seaside capital Mogadishu,...

Somalia has opened its first forensic laboratory to process rape kits. Sexual assault is widespread in the country, according to human rights groups, but few victims come forward and few perpetrators are punished. The new forensic lab in Somalia's Puntland region has been hailed...

The U.S. military says it has carried out three "precision airstrikes" in southern Somalia that killed six members of the al-Shabab extremist group. A U.S. Africa Command statement says the strikes occurred Wednesday morning about 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital, Mogadishu. The...

Armed group attack Bula Hawo on the Kenya-Somalia border claiming they killed dozens of soldiers. Heavy fighting erupted on Monday in the Somali border town of Balad Hawo near Kenya after al-Shabab detonated a suicide car bomb and then stormed the military base there, the...

By:Hibaaq Osman, Contributor The presidency of Somalia’s Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo is only eight months old but already his administration faces its first crisis - and it is one of their own making. For a country that has experienced years of civil war, division and instability, one...

Hundreds of Somalians in the capital Mogadishu trooped to the Banadir Stadium on Friday evening to witness the country’s first football match under floodlight in three decades. Since the start of the civil war, no football match has ever been played at night and the...

MOGADISHU: Several thousand fans on Friday watched the first night-time football match to be played in Mogadishu since chaos descended on the Somali capital nearly three decades ago, raucously backing their respective teams in what the mayor called a “historic” event. The match – the...

STORY HIGHLIGHTS The Government of Somalia is ramping up their efforts to increase urban resilience with the aim of reducing instability. Local governments across the country are spearheading inclusive urban development with the help of the World Bank. Preparations are underway for a larger...

Sahro Abdikadir Arte shuffles through a mound of papers as she prepares for a morning meeting with her team of instructors ahead of another teaching session for street children. For the past 17 months, Sahro and her team of instructors have been running a programme...

With the Turkey hosted international sanctioned talks between Somaliland and Somalia having stalled, banter over airspace administration is now being effected at the VOA Somali service. Representing the two formerly united countries that parted ways in 1991 at the the on air war of words...