• Somalia to restart mail after 22-year hiatus
• Somalia: Mogadishu festival helps move past sounds of war
• Donors step up ties with Somalia; praise rebuilding efforts

• Violence in Somalia scares investors, aid workers
• Up to 3,000 African peacekeepers killed in Somalia since 2007 - UN
• 260,000 died in Somali famine

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Somalia to restart mail after 22-year hiatus
26 April 2013 - Somalis may soon be receiving letters from abroad for the first time in more than 20 years after a deal was struck with the United Nations' postal agency, the latest step towards ending Somalia's isolation following two decades of civil conflict. The Swiss-based Universal Postal Union said in a statement on Friday that international postal services could start operating again in Somalia within the next few months. (more)

Somalia: Mogadishu festival helps move past sounds of war
8 April 2013 - Mogadishu's first music festival in decades acted as another step in moving past a city soundscape once filled with gunfire and mortar shells. The Reconciliation Music Festival was organized by a Somali rap group who moved overseas, Waayaha Cusub. Last week's performances attracted international artists to a capital city that until recently was music-free. (more)

Donors step up ties with Somalia; praise rebuilding efforts
28 February 2013 - Major Western donors have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to reengage with Somalia, opening the way for increased development assistance to a country trying to shake off years of conflict. A senior British official said in Washington that London will host a conference with the new Somali government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on 7 May. (more)

Somalia: Somalis enjoy first major music concert in two decades
20 February 2013 - Music is back in Mogadishu after being banned by Islamists who controlled much of south and central Somalia two years ago. A concert this week saw a top Somali performer appear before a happy crowd, which included government officials. Mogadishu has seen rapid growth and developments in the music sector as Somali singers based in the diaspora have returned to entertain Somalis in the capital Mogadishu -- a hugely symbolical and significant gesture. (more)

US/Somalia: Minnesota congressman arrives in Mogadishu
20 February 2013 - A US congressman visited Somalia's capital on Tuesday, the first visit in years by a member of Congress to what until recently was considered one of the world's most dangerous cities. Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, said his visit to Mogadishu fulfilled a request from his constituents with ties to Somalia. Minnesota has one of the largest populations of Somali-Americans in the US. Ellison was greeted by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The President said that Ellison's visit was a big day for Somalia. (more)

Somalia beginning 'profound transformation,' UN official says during visit
30 January 2013 - During a visit to the capital, Mogadishu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman noted that Somalia is entering a new chapter in its history, and reiterated the world body's commitment to support efforts to build lasting peace. After decades of factional fighting and lawlessness, the East African country has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with a series of landmark steps last year that have helped to bring an end to its nine-year political transition period. (more)

Somali pirate kingpin 'Big Mouth' quits after naval crackdown
12 January 2013 - A Somali pirate kingpin nicknamed 'Big Mouth' has renounced a life of hijacking ships that earned him fame and fortune before an international naval crackdown that has curbed attacks on maritime commercial and pleasure craft. 'I have given up piracy and succeeded in encouraging more youth to give up piracy,' Mohamed Abdi Hassan 'Afweyne' told Reuters. '(Afweyne's move) may be a tacit recognition that the Somali piracy phenomenon no longer yields the lucrative criminal gains it did in previous years, thanks to successful naval operations and improved security and awareness on merchant vessels,' said Rory Lamrock, intelligence analyst with security firm AKE. (more)

Somali pirates release longest-held hostages after 33 months
23 December 2012 - A ship and its crew of 22 sailors held by Somali pirates for almost three years have been freed after a two-week-long siege by maritime police, the government of the breakaway region of Puntland said on Sunday. One of the pirate leaders said they only released the ship after negotiation with Puntland officials and local elders. International navies have had some recent success containing piracy in the Indian Ocean. Although more than 100 hostages taken off Somalia are still being held captive, the number of hijackings of ships dropped to seven in the first 11 months of this year compared to 24 in the whole of 2011. (more)

UN chief welcomes swearing-in of new Somali cabinet ministers
15 November 2012 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the swearing-in on 15 November of the cabinet of ministers put forward by Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon and endorsed by the country's parliament. 'This marks another important step in the determined efforts by Somalia's new leadership to bring about a positive change in Somalia,' Mr Ban's spokesperson added in a statement. (more)

Somalia inaugurates elected President after 20 years of strife
16 September 2012 - Somalia's new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office on Sunday, calling for an end to terrorism and piracy in a nation mired in conflict for more than two decades. Mohamud's inauguration, the first of its kind since the country slid into civil war after warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, follows a regionally-brokered, UN-backed effort to end fighting. 'We want Somalia free from piracy, terrorism, and asylum seekers abroad. We want to create a united community so that Somalis and the neighbouring countries can live peacefully,' Mohamud said during his inauguration. 'Somalia has now turned a fresh page.' (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Violence in Somalia scares investors, aid workers
23 May 2013 - A spate of attacks by Islamic insurgents in Somalia's capital is forcing investors, businessmen and aid workers to have second thoughts about expanding operations in Mogadishu. African Union and Somali troops pushed al-Shabab insurgents out of the capital in August 2011, fostering a relatively secure peace that Mogadishu hasn't seen in years. Somalis living overseas are returning, bringing new foreign investment capital with them. The last 18 months have been Mogadishu's best in years, say residents. But a recent spate of attacks is threatening those gains. Somali security forces this week began rounding up hundreds of suspects in an effort to smoke out militants in Mogadishu. The mass arrests have some in the city concerned. 'They arrested anyone they could see, that's wrong,' said Mohamed Abdullahi, a university student who said he spent hours in a prison before being released on Tuesday night. 'Only criminals deserve such mistreatments.' (more)

Up to 3,000 African peacekeepers killed in Somalia since 2007 - UN
9 May 2013 - As many as 3,000 African Union peacekeepers have been killed in Somalia in recent years in an attempt to end an Islamist insurgency and bring stability to the Horn of Africa nation, a senior UN official said on Thursday. The 17,700 strong African Union force began deploying to Somalia in 2007. It includes troops from Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Djibouti. 'Uganda, Burundi have paid a tremendous price,' he added. 'The Kenyan troops are, of course, also a large part of AMISOM.' By way of comparison, 3,096 UN peacekeepers have died since 1948, according to the website of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. (more)

260,000 died in Somali famine
29 April 2013 - The 2011 Somali famine killed an estimated 260,000 people, half of them age 5 and under, according to a new report to be published this week that more than doubles previous death toll estimates, officials told The Associated Press. The aid community believes that tens of thousands of people died needlessly because the international community was slow to respond to early signs of approaching hunger in East Africa in late 2010 and early 2011. The toll was also exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabab who banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia that they controlled. Those same militants have also made the task of figuring out an accurate death toll extremely difficult. (more)

Somalia: Bombs and gunbattle kill at least 16 in Somali capital
14 April 2013 - At least 16 people were killed as two car bombs exploded outside the law courts in Somalia's capital Mogadishu and gunmen stormed the building on Sunday, before a gunbattle erupted with security forces besieging the compound, witnesses said. A large blast hit an area near Mogadishu airport hours later, residents said. t was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, but al Shabaab militants linked to al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings in Mogadishu this year. Britain warned on 5 April it believed 'terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in Mogadishu'. (more)

Human climate change big factor in Somali famine
15 March 2013 - Human-induced climate change contributed to low rain levels in East Africa in 2011, making global warming one of the causes of Somalia's famine and the tens of thousands of deaths that followed, a new study has found. It is the first time climate change was proven to be partially to blame for such a large humanitarian disaster, an aid group said Friday. Three climate scientists with Britain's national weather service studied weather patterns in Somalia in 2010 and 2011 and found that yearly precipitation known as the short rains failed in late 2010 because of the natural effects of the weather pattern La Nina. But the lack of the long rains in early 2011 was an effect of 'the systematic warming (of Earth) due to influence on greenhouse gas concentrations on the long rains,' said Peter Scott of Britain's National Weather Service, known as the Met Office. (more)

UN monitors see arms reaching Somalia from Yemen, Iran
10 February 2013 - As the United States pushes for an end to the UN arms embargo on Somalia, UN monitors are reporting that Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving arms from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran. The UN Security Council's sanctions monitoring team's concerns about Iranian and Yemeni links to arms supplies for al Shabaab militants come as Yemen is asking Tehran to stop backing armed groups on Yemeni soil. Last month Yemeni coast guards and the US Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets the Sanaa government says were sent by Iran. Yemen is proving to be of central importance for arming Shabaab, the monitors' reporting shows, both because it is feeding arms into northern Somalia and because it has become a playing field for Iranian interests in Somalia and elsewhere. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the 15-nation council should consider lifting the arms embargo to help rebuild Somalia's security forces and consolidate military gains against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants. Those who oppose scrapping the arms embargo say Somalia's security sector still includes elements close to warlords and militants. (more)

Landmine danger persists in Somalia
1 February 2013 - Thousands of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) scattered in parts of Somalia over past decades of conflict are emerging as a threat to the relative security now being enjoyed there, with inadequate demining expertise posing a challenge, say officials. '[Land]mines are planted everywhere. Even mosques are not safe,' Lt-Col Farah Dhiblawe, a demining expert with the Somali National Army, told IRIN. 'We were trained to use the mines to defend the country and the religion, but now Somalis are using it to harm their own citizens, which is unfortunate.' The eastern Somalia-Ethiopia border region is among the areas heavily infested with UXOs, which were planted during the 1977 border war. Cities that witnessed more recent clashes between government troops and the insurgent Al-Shabab militia group are similarly affected. According to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), most communities in south-central Somalia suffer 'from a degree of explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination; few have the support or capacity to deal with these threats.' (more)

Britain warns of specific security threat in Somalia
27 January 2013 - The British government warned on Sunday of a 'specific threat' to foreigners in Somalia's breakaway enclave of Somaliland and urged its nationals to leave the country immediately. Britain's Foreign Office gave no details of the threat in the Horn of Africa state, but highlighted in a statement the ongoing danger of 'kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism'. 'We are now aware of a specific threat to Westerners in Somaliland, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately,' the statement said. Ireland has issued the same alert to its citizens, a spokesman at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said. It follows a warning from European countries on Thursday of a 'specific and imminent' threat to foreigners in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. (more)

Illegal migration on the rise in Somaliland
3 December 2012 - More youths from the self-declared republic of Somaliland are illegally migrating from the region, mainly due to a lack of jobs, traveling through Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya on their way to Europe, say officials. Joblessness is fuelling the illegal migration, even though the journey carried inherent risks such as abuse, debt, deportation and imprisonment. 'The high rate of unemployment is Somaliland is considered the main factor that encourages youths to [undertake] illegal migration,' said Mohamed-Rashid Muhumed Farah, the secretary general of the Somaliland Journalists Association. According to Ali Osman Abdi-Liba, a political scientist, youths with higher educations are also more likely to leave Somaliland. 'University students feel proud, and they have high hopes. In the first two years, [they are] interested in studying, but in the last two years of university [their] hopes decrease because [they] know former university students [who] are in the town without jobs. For this reason, as soon as they finish university, if they don't get jobs, they will [be] frustrated and [undertake] illegal migration,' he said. (more)

Impunity endangers Somalia's journalists
23 November 2012 - Somalia's journalists are urging their new government and the international community to help end the impunity they say is contributing to making Somalia one of the world's most dangerous countries to practice journalism. So far 18 Somali journalists have been killed this year and 44 since 2007. The National Union of Somali Journalists on Friday said that impunity has become a fundamental problem in Somalia. Journalists in almost every region of the country commonly face harassment, blackmail, arbitrary police detention and, in addition, criminals are hired to suppress them. Journalists are being targeted to silence them from speaking against corruption, violence, and violations of human rights by radical Islamist groups, said Somali Journalist Mohamed Bashir Hashi. The International Federation of Journalist says the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabaab has a bloody record of maiming and killing journalists who do not toe their line. (more)