KAMPALA - Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi sacked the mayor of the capital Mogadishu and appointed his information minister to replace him on Sunday. The president, in a decree, named Abdirahman Omar Osman as the new mayor, replacing Taabit Abdi Mohamed. The president’s office did not give a reason for Mohamed’s dismissal. Local media reported on Saturday that Mohamed and Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire ...

Baidoa, Somalia — Former Navy SEAL and founder of the now defunct private security company Blackwater, who holds the title of CEO for the Hong Kong based private equity firm Frontier Services Group (FSG), Erik Prince,  just signed a lucrative contract deal with South-West State within the highly contested, conflict-ridden region of southern Somalia. Prince and his FSG are no strangers to investing in Africa ...

For a brief moment last week, Ethiopia seemed poised to shed its reputation as Africa’s Stasi state. At a press conference on Jan. 3, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn vowed to free political prisoners and shutter the notorious Maekelawi prison, which has long served as a torture chamber for government critics, opposition leaders, journalists, and activists. Desalegn’s announcement shocked Ethio ...

MOGADISHU  - Somali Al-Shabaab Islamist militants, who have carried out frequent bombings in the capital, Mogadishu, said a former leader who defected to the government side was an apostate who could be killed. Al Shabaab fell out with its former spokesman and deputy leader, Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, in 2013. He defected to the U.N.-backed government in August last year. Al Shabaab has been fighting for yea ...

By Jamal Osman US President Donald Trump loves signing executive orders. During his first year in office, he has signed dozens of controversial orders on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from national security to trade. Some of these executive orders, such as the ones on the Muslim travel ban and the Mexican border wall, received a lot of media attention and triggered protests around the world. But many ...

Mogadishu (Harar24) The latest news from the Ogaden regions reports that there has been clashes between ONLF fighters and the Ethiopian regime’s army in Jaleelo village in Shillabo district yesterday on the 8th of January according to ONA. ONLF media wing  (ONA ) claims to that its fighters attacked Ethiopia forces fierce near Jaleelo village and that fierce fighting took place between ONLF and Ethiopian so ...

Transporters have changed the route they use to ferry miraa from Nyambene Hills in Meru County to North-Eastern and southern Somalia due to fear of Al-Shabaab attacks. From the previous route of Maua via Garba Tula-Modogashe and Wajir road, the traders now use the Isiolo town-Marsabit and Moyale highway before getting to Mandera via Takaba and Bute. Nyambene Miraa Growers’ Association chairman Isaiah Mwambi ...

Five security officers were killed on Tuesday in an attack by suspected Al-Shabaab terrorists on the Elwak-Kotulo road in Mandera. The attackers also burnt a police lorry while several officers were injured in the evening ambush. Mandera South deputy county commissioner Daniel Bundotich said three police reservists and two Administration Police officers died in the attack. “We lost five security officers in ...

MOGADISHU - Some Somali lawmakers said on Wednesday they plan to impeach the president in a mounting political crisis that could put the fledgling government on a violent collision course with one of the country’s most powerful clans. The political turmoil endangers fragile gains against the Islamist al Shabaab insurgency and could derail the government of President Mohamed Abdullahi. Universally known by h ...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States is suspending food and fuel aid for most of Somalia’s armed forces over corruption concerns, a blow to the military as African peacekeepers start to withdraw this month. African Union (AU) troops landed in Mogadishu a decade ago to fight al Shabaab Islamist militants and Somali forces are supposed to eventually take over their duties. But the United States, which also f ...