Category Archives: Latest Somali News

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – At least 12 people were killed and scores wounded in clashes between Somalia’s militant rebels and pro-government Islamist militias in the latest fighting in the anarchic Horn of Africa state, witnesses and Islamists said.   Al Shabaab fighters and members of an Islamist group loyal to President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s government...Continue reading »

 A government minister in Ethiopia has sided with Somali government officials and has accused Eritrea of transporting weapons to opposition groups in Somalia, Radio Garowe reports. Mohamud Dirir, the Ethiopian Minister for Communication, Culture and Tourism, said the Ethiopian government has long warned the world against Eritrea’s continued interference in Somalia. “It...Continue reading »

NAIROBI (IRIN) – Prices of basic commodities and house rents have rocketed in the town of Beletweyne in Somalia’s Hiiraan region, due to insecurity and large influx of displaced people. “Everything is going up, whether it is rent, water, food or even bus-fare,” said Abdirashid Abdullahi, a trader in Beletweyne. He said his rent went up from...Continue reading »

(Reuters) – Pirates have fired small arms weapons at a U.S. Navy supply ship off the coast of Eastern Somalia, the first attack of this kind since last year’s surge in pirate attacks, the U.S. Navy said on Thursday.   The USNS Lewis and Clark was chased for about an hour on Wednesday morning by two pirates skiffs, but neither came closer than about one nautical...Continue reading »

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates captured a Dutch ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday and a U.S. military supply ship evaded an armed attack by pirates in the same region, one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous waterways. The Netherlands Antilles-flagged MV Marathon was seized 115 miles (185 kilometers) southeast of the Yemeni port of Mukalla, according...Continue reading »

By Abdurrahman Warsameh  MOGADISHU, (Xinhua) — Somali youths will have yet another thing to pass their tough times and perhaps develop their mental capacities and promote peace as schools in Mogadishu now started to hold regular chess contests among their students, thanks to an initiative by local schools chess association.     The first of its...Continue reading »

By LUCAS BARASA (The Daily Nation) - Somalia MPs are now demanding compensation from some Western countries for “looting” the horn of Africa country’s water resources for the last 15 years. The countries, the legislators said,  have engaged in illegal fishing and dumping of toxic wastes on the Somali coast line. “We want our country to...Continue reading »

Eritrea’s President Issayas Afeworki said he did not recognize the Somali government led by president Sharif Sheik Ahmed and that it was not his policy to intervene Somali internal affairs.  He said that Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was once based in Asmara and added that he deceived his friends after he moved to another base, referring to Djibouti.    Speaking...Continue reading »

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – A group of roughly 30 Reserve pilots, aircrew members and support personnel from the 920th Rescue Wings HC-130P/N Hercules squadron here returned safely last night from a two-month deployment to the Horn of Africa (HOA). The deployed reservists, who were based at Camp Lemonier, a combined, joint base at Djibouti, Africa, provided combat...Continue reading »

Filed Under: Sea piracy, Waterway & Maritime Transport, Hijacking (General)   MOGADISHU — Somali pirates on Wednesday freed a cargo ship carrying goods for Somali traders hours after another gang in the Gulf of Aden seized a German-owned freighter with an 11-member Romanian crew. The Emirati-owned Al-Meezan was released without a ransom payment five days after...Continue reading »

Garowe — He drove for a long distance in northern Somalia without trouble – and without soldiers. For police officers in Puntland, a regional autonomy in northeastern Somalia, his story was a unique and surprising journey to a land long forgotten by the rest of the world. His name is Kenji Goto, a Japanese national whose business card identifies him as a journalist...Continue reading »

LONDON (AFP)–Two Somali men went on trial in London Wednesday accused of encouraging acts of terrorism around the world, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ahmed Mohamed, 33, and Musse Yusuf, 32, ran Web sites offering material including volumes titled “Mujahideen Terrorist Handbook” and the “Mujahideen Explosives Handbook”, the court heard. “The...Continue reading »

Addis Ababa, May 6 (WIC) – The Government of the Democratic Republic of Somalia is diplomatically urging to the Government of Eritrea to stop violation of arms proliferation into Somalia, and adhere to the international principles of the international law.     In a message posted on the official website of Somali Government Communications and Contracts Office,...Continue reading »

Garowe, 6 May 2009  (Somalilandpress) – When Gilbert and Sullivan composed their melodies about the pirate king, it was doubtful they had a Somali like Garaad in mind. Yet this former fisherman, the man behind many of the recent hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, is as close as it comes to pirate royalty in the modern world. In an interview on the...Continue reading »

On April 17th, I received an e-mail from someone I had never met. The message: ”Keep an eye out on the news for the next week. Rumor has it the GSG 9 der Bundespolizei may make a move on the German freighter Hansa Stavanger (held by Somali pirates).” So I kept my eye out. But nothing happened. Today, I read at the U.S. Naval Institute Blog that there was...Continue reading »

MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali pirates said on Wednesday they had freed a UAE-owned cargo ship captured at the weekend en route to Mogadishu with goods for local businessmen. “We released the ship before dawn today after we identified that it was chartered for Somali traders,” a pirate, who identified himself as Hussein, told Reuters by telephone from...Continue reading »

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somali pirates hijacked a German cargo ship carrying 11 Romanian crew in the Gulf of Aden, the latest seizure by high-seas bandits who are holding hundreds of merchant mariners hostage, officials said Wednesday. The German-owned ship, the MV Victoria, was captured Tuesday afternoon 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Yemen, said Lt. Nate Christensen,...Continue reading »

                  An Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo ship has been hijacked by a band of eight pirates in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, the government of the Caribbean state says. It is the latest reported seizure of a vessel in the Gulf of Aden by pirates from virtually lawless Somalia, who over the last few years have captured...Continue reading »

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The head of a shipping company recently victimized by pirates off the Somali coast told lawmakers Tuesday that U.S. cargo crews should be allowed to arm themselves in response to the rising hijacking threat. Philip Shapiro, head of Liberty Maritime Corp., told a U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee that the owners of U.S.-flagged “have done...Continue reading »

  WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. senator says the military should more aggressively protect American cargo ships from piracy instead of responding only after an attack. Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey says the U.S. military has taken what he calls a reactive, alarm-company response to fighting piracy. Lautenberg chairs a Senate Commerce subcommittee...Continue reading »