Somalia

The UN refugee agency said a total of 26,819 Somali refugees have in principle confirmed their intention to voluntarily return home and are waiting to be facilitated to return to the Horn of Africa nation. The UNHCR said in its bi-monthly report released on Saturday...

By Mohamed Sheikh Nor At least seven people were killed and eight others injured after a bomb ripped through a restaurant in the Middle Shabelle region town of El-Baraf in Somalia, an army official and relatives said. A separate ambush killed at least six soldiers...

By Tufan Aktas and Addis Getachew ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia More details about Turkey’s first military facility in Somalia emerged on Thursday with the construction firm behind the project confirming the base will be able to train hundreds of local soldiers. Istanbul Mogadishu General Construction Company Director Ebubekir...

By James Barnett In counterinsurgency, military victories tend to be easier than political ones, and Somalia seems to be a case in point these days. On the one hand, al-Shabaab has retreated from much of the country and suffered heavy losses among both its leadership...

Clint Eastwood is set to direct another real-life story following American Sniper and Sully. Following American Sniper and Sully, Clint Eastwood is set to tackle another real-life story by adapting Jessica Buchanan’s memoir Impossible Odds, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Written by Buchanan and her husband...

Somali officials have claimed that the US killed 22 local soldiers and civilians in a drone strike that hit the north-central city of Galkayo late last month. The US has confirmed it conducted a strike in the area on the same date, but claims all...

Ethiopian troops fighting militant Islamist group al-Shabab have withdrawn from a key military base in central Somalia's Hiiraan region, witnesses say. Al-Shabab fighters have entered el-Ali village following the withdrawal, reports say. Ethiopian forces had destroyed the base before abandoning the area, a radio station run...

Somalia is due to hold elections in October and November that are seen as a vital stepping stone in restoring governance and rebuilding a state plagued by war and insurgency for 25 years. Twelve years after the formation of its current transitional federal government, and...

The United Arab Emirates government has joined a long line of Arab and western governments supporting dozens of candidates vying for Somalia’s leadership seat amid fears of delays of the presidential election scheduled to take place on November 30, diplomat sources told Alleastafrica Wednesday. Having...

BY YUSUF HASSAN For Somalia to achieve peace and democracy, state-building must be the new federal government’s cornerstone policy. Somalia was supposed to have a new parliament in August, followed shortly thereafter by parliamentarians voting in a new president on September 10. This imperfect system has...