Eritrean govt responds to UN Security Council sanctions

The UN Security Council has today passed a shameful resolution imposing sanctions against Eritrea. The unjustifiable measures imposed on Eritrea include: an arms embargo; the inspection and seizure by Member States in their territory of such cargo to and from Eritrea; and, the imposition of a travel ban, and the freezing of assets of, Eritrea’s political and military leadership who may be blacklisted by a Committee.

Qamar Aden Ali, Ibrahim Hassan Adoow, Abdullahi Wayel & Saleman Olad Robleh killed in Somalia

At least 17 people, including four Somali ministers and two journalists have been killed and over 60 others injured in deadly suicide bomb blast that ripped through a function in … Radio Garowe reports.

According to witnesses, a ‘lady’ suicide bomber detonated explosives near the VIP lounge where the top government officials, who attended the graduation ceremony for Banadir University, were seated.

World Food Programme to close 12 food centres in Somalia

The World Food Programme (WFP) will close 12 food centres for mothers and children in Somalia because it has run out of money. The organisation has only received 40 per cent of its budget for 2009. WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said the group had no other option but to cut aid. The country is struggling with a violent armed conflict, which has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes. A severe drought also threatens food security. Last week the group appealed for 217,000 metric tons of food, worth over 200 million US dollars, to feed 3.5 million people by the end of October when stocks will run-out. The WFP has also said it will have to restrict aid services to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya.

Stolt Strength hijacked off Somalia

The Philippine-flagged Stolt Strength, managed by a Panama company, was seized on Monday, said Andrew Mwangura who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.

“The ship was seized on Monday afternoon, but we are now tracking its whereabouts,” he told AFP.

“We are yet to establish where the ship was heading and what it was carrying,” he added.

Stolt Strength, with 21 Filipino crew, was seized nearly two months after its sister freighter, Stolt Valor, was taken in the same region.

Aisha Duhulow stoned to death in Kismayo, Somalia?

and you call this Islamic right you silly so.called Muslim fuckers

AllAfrica: Aisha Duhulow was stoned to death in a stadium full of spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo on 27 October after authorities found her guilty of adultery.
But reports indicate that she had been raped by three men while walking to visit her grandmother in the capital Mogadishu. After the attack, Aisha asked for protection from prosecutors, who in turn accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death.
According to media reports, Aisha pleaded for her life before she was forced into a hole, buried up to her neck and then pelted with stones by some 50 men until she died in front of more than 1,000 people.

Osman Ali Ahmed, UNDP head killed in Somalia

Democracy Now! In Somalia, the head of the country’s UN Development Program was shot dead on Sunday. It was the latest fatality in a string of attacks on aid workers. Osman Ali Ahmed was shot at close range as he left a mosque in southern Mogadishu. His son was also injured in the shooting.

The Waris Dirie manifesto

My fifteen goals
I want:

1. everyone in Europe to recognise genital mutilation as a problem common to all countries and one we can no longer shut our eyes to;
2. every religious community to take a clear stand against the practice of genital mutilation;
3. every FGM victim needing help to get the help she needs;

Shiek Hassan Dahir Aweys rejects ‘peace’ offer

MOGADISHU, June 10 (Xinhua) — Shiek Hassan Dahir Aweys, the spiritual leader of the former Islamic Courts Union and now a member of the opposition group, has rejected the agreement signed Monday between Somali transitional government and the opposition in Djibouti, local media reported Tuesday.

Nasteh Dahir killed in Somalia

A Reuters witness said gunmen confronted Nasteh Dahir outside his home in the port of Kismayu before shooting him in the chest and stomach. He died soon afterwards in hospital.
The BBC in neighbouring Kenya confirmed his identity. Sobbing over the corpse, Dahir’s wife Idil Abdi Ahmed said she had no idea who would want her husband dead. “He had no problem or argument with anyone in town. We don’t know why he was killed, he was innocent,” she told Reuters.

Somali criminal Yusuf Daboged reinstalled in Hiran by Ethiopian troops

A notorious warlord in central Somalia has returned to his former seat of power at a provincial capital after being forced to flee in April by Islamist guerrillas.

Yusuf Daboged, the former governor of Hiran region, told reporters by telephone that he is the “legitimate” governor of Hiran.

Ethiopian occupiers ambushed on way to Bulo Burte, Hiran region Somalia

Heavily armed insurgent fighters ambushed an Ethiopian army convoy as it drove its way through central Somalia Sunday, sparking a 30-minute gunfight, sources said.

Somalia declared polio-free

“Against a backdrop of widespread conflict, large population movements and a dearth of functioning government infrastructure, transmission of poliovirus in the country has been successfully stopped,” WHO delcared.