By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Reuters on Tuesday he expected a new military drive by African Union and Somali forces to start in the next few days to push al Shabaab militants from more territory. Al Shabaab ruled most of the south...

Nairobi, Kenya - When Kenya's security forces knocked on the door of Abdinassir Ismail's house during a counter-terror crackdown last May, little did he know that they would ask for a bribe. "There was a bang at the door followed by a loud command: 'Open the door,'" recalls 36-year-old Ismail. ...

Mogadishu, 6 August 2014 – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia (SRSG), Nicholas Kay, welcomed the addition of Himan and Heeb as a signatory to an agreement in principle to form a regional administration in central Somalia.

By Edith Honan WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, in Washington this week to court Western investors, has sought to downplay a spate of violent attacks tied to militants in neighboring Somalia and their impact on Kenya's economy. "Yes, we may have pockets where we h...

Fighting between al-Shabab and government and African Union (AU) troops in the central Hiran region has left 18 people dead on both sides, the Somalian armed group has said. Al-Shabab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab told the AFP news agency on Saturday that the deaths occurred after the group's fig...

By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - War-ravaged Somalia is hurtling towards a second famine in three years that could be prevented if donors increased funding, Philippe Lazzarini, United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Somalia said on Sunday. Lazzarini said rapidly rising malnut...

Just three years after famine was declared in parts of Somalia, a poor rainy season is once again threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poor households. The effects of these poor rains, namely disappointing harvests and rising food prices, are made worse by military opera...

MOGADISHU, Somalia, August 18 (UNHCR) – Kadija is in shock. Over the past two weeks, the 32-year-old Somali has lost her livelihood, fled her rural home and ended up in a dismal settlement in one of the most dangerous cities on earth. "I don't have my own house and my children can't go out and pl...

An international human rights group says there is strong evidence that Kenya's anti-terrorism police unit has carried out a series of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. A Human Rights Watch report said on Monday that research conducted between November and June documented at leas...

Hargeisa, 18 August 2014 – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, arrived in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, this morning and pledged to step up UN support. During the visit SRSG Kay will meet with President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo, the M...