Category: Somalia
Somalia: Kenyan Troops Abandon Somali Camp to al Shabaab Militants
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 26, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Kenyan soldiers have abandoned a camp in the southern Somali town of El Adde following an attack by al Shabaab, a military spokesman said, and the islamist militants said they had taken full control of the base on Tuesday. The Kenyan troops, part of…
Somalia: Stumbling Along ‘Bumpy and Difficult’ Path to Peace and Prosperity
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 25, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Despite sporadic, sometimes intense militant attacks, Somalia has been making steady political progress ahead of a planned presidential vote this year, but these tenuous gains will not be consolidated unless the focus switches to debt relief and kickstarting the economy, says the…
Somalia: Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 7, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. According to the official meeting of Federal ministers meeting today in Mogadishu, declared that, Somalia officially cut diplomatic ties with Iran and ordered all Iranian diplomats and embassy staff out of the country within 72 hours, including The Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation…
Somalia: "No Longer Failed State" and Other Sights and Sounds in E. Africa
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 7, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. As everyone was rushing for the holidays, there was a development in our region that seems to have escaped many people’s attention. Nicolas Kay, the outgoing representative for the United Nations Secretary in Somalia, said the country was “no longer a failed…
Somalia: Intelligence Agency Detains Journalist for Weeks
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 7, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Somali authorities should immediately release journalist Abdirisak Omar Ahmed or disclose any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency arrested Abdirisak, a freelancer who wrote for the privately owned, Somali-language, news website Xogmaal,…
UPDATE: New African Military Training Facility in Mogadishu With The Help of Turkey
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 5, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Turkey has started to build a military training base in Somalia as part of its pledge to build up the national army for the Somali government, a senior Turkish diplomat has said. Emel Tekin, the head of the Foreign Ministry department responsible for…
Somalia: UAE Ambassador Meets Somali Defence Minister
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 5, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. The UAE Ambassador to Somalia, Mohammed Ahmed Othman Al Hammadi, has met with General Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini, Somali Minister of Defence, at the embassy headquarters in Mogadishu. During the meeting, the two sides discussed mutual close relations between their countries, and the Somali…
Somalia: How to Build Hope Amid the Horror of Al-Shabaab's Insurgency
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 4, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. By: Mark Anderson. Cities struggling to defeat violent insurgencies must galvanise support from residents by boosting the government’s presence in undeserved districts and providing essential services, according to the former mayor of Somalia’s embattled capital, Mogadishu. Mohamed Nur, who served as mayor from July 2010…
Somalia: Housing Boom as Mogadishu Emerges from Ashes of War
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 3, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. But now new housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as Diaspora Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalise on the relative peace in the city. Some seven kilometres outside Mogadishu in a formerly largely rural area, new homes are springing up,…
Somalia: Special Ops- Ethiopia's Elite Forces Attached with AMISOM
MOGADISHU (HAN) January 2, 2016 – Public Diplomacy and Regional Stability Initiatives News. Ethiopian “special operations capable” forces attached to AMISOM to engage actively against Al-Shabaab. The Military component is currently headed by Ethiopian General Zeyinu (In the Photo). The Ethiopian peacekeeping forces in Southern Somalia have played a major role in driving Al Shabab out…
