Qaeda-Affiliated Group Overruns African Union Base in Somalia Mohammed Ibrahim, New York Times 1 September 2015   Image:Mustafa Abdi/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images   MOGADISHU, Somalia — Fighters from the Shabab militant group overran an African Union military base in southern Somalia on Tuesday morning in an attack that included a suicide bombing and an intense firefight, witnesses and officials said. The Shabab, an Islamist extremist

Al-Shabab’s Resilient Insurgency African Union troops are having their "worst year" in Somalia since 2011. Can they still mount a final offensive against the al Qaeda-linked group? Ty McCormick, Foreign Policy 24 July 2015   TOROTOROW, Somalia — African Union troops, draped in shimmering belts of ammunition and sweating under the weight of their body armor, kept an uneasy watch as their commander addressed a group of Somali elders in the

Somalia attack: Bomb kills UN workers in Garowe BBC News Africa 20 April 2015   A suicide bomb attack on a United Nations vehicle in Garowe, the main city in Somalia's Puntland region, has killed seven people, police say. The UN children's fund, Unicef, says four of its staff are among the dead. Police commander Ahmed Abdullahi Samatar says that he believes that one of the bodies belongs to the man who blew himself up. Al-Shabab, which is battling

Uganda Sends Fresh Troops to Somalia By Nicholas Bariyo, The Wall Street Journal 28 October 2014 Uganda has started sending 2,700 new troops to war-torn Somalia, a military spokesman said on Tuesday, as African Union peacekeeping troops continue efforts to stabilize the nation. The fresh troops will reinforce the security of Somalia’s presidency, the parliament, all ministries and the airport, as well as the country’s sea port, Ugandan army chief,

African Union troops lay siege over Somali town run by Shabaab By Feisal Omar, Reuters 7 October 2014 About 1,000 African Union and Somali troops launched an assault on Sunday to retake the al-Shabaab militant stronghold of Barawe on the southern Somali coast and has so far met no resistance, a Somali military official said. The African Union and the Somali military launched a joint offensive in March to drive the al Qaeda-linked Islamists out of

In Somalia, emergency airlifts supply towns unreachable by road By Athanas Makundi, UNICEF 15 September 2014 A major logistics operation is underway in Somalia to bring urgent aid to areas cut off from international help. Cargo flights to previously cut-off areas of Somalia have enabled UNICEF to provide essential vaccines, therapeutic food and medicine for malnutrition, and school supplies for thousands of children.    Habiba Ahmed Mohamed has

Somalia: Sexual Abuse by African Union Soldiers By Human Rights Watch 8 September 2014   (Nairobi) – Soldiers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have sexually abused and exploited vulnerable Somali women and girls on their bases in Mogadishu, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Troop-contributing countries, the African Union (AU), and donors to AMISOM should urgently address these abuses and strengthen procedures

Leader of Qaeda-Linked Somali Group Is Dead, U.S. Says By Helene Cooper, The New York Times 5 September 2014 The American airstrikes on Monday against the Shabab, the Qaeda-linked militant network in Somalia, succeeded in killing the group’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, the Pentagon announced Friday. “We have confirmed that Ahmed Godane, the co-founder of Al Shabab, has been killed,” the Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in

GENOCIDE WATCH THE INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END GENOCIDE Somalia Genocide Emergency Alert 4 September 2014   [WORD DOCUMENT] Al-Shabab, meaning “The Youth” in Arabic, emerged as the radical wing of Somalia's now-defunct Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu in 2006, before being forced out by Ethiopian forces. Al-Shabab seeks to spread the Saudi-inspired Wahhabi version of Islam, while most Somalis are Sufis. It has imposed a

By Abdi Sheikh Reuters 15 August 2014 (Reuters) - African peacekeepers and Somali troops battled militants in a suburb of Mogadishu on Friday, launching a joint offensive that killed at least 14 people, police said. The attack was part of an armed campaign by government forces and African Union peacekeepers in response to a recent surge in gun and bomb attacks in Mogadishu by militias, primarily the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group. "At least 14