Ilhan Omar lands in Mogadishu after Puntland trip 

Monday December 26, 2022

Garowe (HOL) – U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday to meet with Somali government authorities.
Congresswoman Omar spent the past two days in Puntland’s regional capital,  Garowe.
The first deputy speaker of the Lower House of the Somali parliament, MP Sadia Yasin Samatar, Minister for Women and Human Rights Development (MoWHRD), Khadijo Mohamed Diriye other government officials welcomed her at Mogadishu’s Adan Adde International Airport.
According to reports, Ilhan Omar planned to visit Bosaso after finishing her visit to Garowe but was barred from visiting the coastal town of Bosaso.
Omar denied reports that the Puntland President barred her from visiting Bosaso, a seaside city in northeastern Somalia.
According to local media, Deni instructed Ilhan Omar to avoid coming to Bosaso so she would avoid meeting with lawmakers and traditional leaders with whom he disagrees.
“I did not visit Bosaso because I did not have enough time during,” she says, adding that there was no reason preventing her from visiting the town.
Ilhan Omar, who was just re-elected to the United States Congress for the third time, travelled to Somalia to learn more about Puntland’s upcoming one-person, one-vote elections in 2023.

Somali Military takes al-Shabab’s last stronghold in Middle Shabelle

Source: VOA, Mohamed Dhaysane
Friday December 23, 2022

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s military says it has liberated the last town held by al-Shabab militants in the Middle Shabelle region, killing more than 150 fighters, including five foreigners.

Speaking to journalists in Mogadishu Thursday, Somalia’s Defense Ministry Spokesman Abdullahi Ali Anod said the army, backed by local clan militia, liberated the strategic town of Runirgod.

The town was the last stronghold of the al-Qaida-affiliated, al-Shabab Islamist militants in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region.

Anod said the army entered villages around the town early Thursday morning and engaged militants in fierce firefights.

He says today we want talk about the latest victories of the Somali national army and units of the armed, local revolutionary forces. Anod says around six AM the forces led by the national army took control of Runirgod in Middle Shabelle region.

The spokesman said five foreign fighters were among militants killed in the fighting but gave no details on country of origin.

He did not provide any casualty figures on the Somali military’s side.

Al-Shabab’s social media did not immediately publish a response to the military’s announcement.

But the militants Telegram channel said they had carried out a bomb attack on security personnel in the same region, killing four troops.

Somalia’s military did not response to the alleged bombing or casualties.

Runirgod is 240 kilometers north of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.

It is the second major town that the army says it has liberated from the Islamist militant group in less than a month.

Somalia’s national army, backed by local militias, have gone on the offensive against the group since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared an “all-out war” against the group after his May elect.

The insurgents have also carried out deadly attacks in the Horn of Africa nation’s capital.

The group in late November attacked the Villa Rays hotel in Mogadishu, killing eight people and losing five of their own.

The Villa Rays hotel was frequented by Somali government and security officials and located near the presidential palace.

The militant group also stormed the Hayat hotel in central Mogadishu in August.

Security forces ended the siege after nearly 30 hours of fighting that left 21 people dead and more than 100 wounded.

Food Insecurity and Conflict in South Sudan

 Source: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute posted on 16 December 2022 a seven minute video titled “Food Security and Why It Matters for Peace in South Sudan.”

One third of South Sudan’s population or 8.3 million people are currently food insecure.  The video is made in Jonglei State and discusses the intersection of conflict, drought, flooding, and climate change, which has resulted in a humanitarian crisis. 

Somali Counterterrorism: Learning from Past Mistakes

Source:  CTC Sentinel’s November/December edition contains an extensive analysis titled “The 2022 Somali Offensive Against Al-Shabaab: Making Enduring Gains Will Require Learning from Previous Failures” by Samira Gaid.  

The experience of the last 15-plus years of counterinsurgency suggests that the gains may only be fleeting unless Somalia takes full ownership of the fight, focuses on winning hearts and minds, receives and coordinates continued U.S. and partner support, makes significant progress in building up its military, addresses the clan rivalries that al-Shabaab has been adept in exploiting, and implements a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy that unifies stakeholders.

FAO warns of dire humanitarian situation in Somalia as famine looms 

Source: Xinuanet, Wednesday December 21, 2022

MOGADISHU (Xinhua) — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Tuesday warned of a dire humanitarian situation in Somalia with famine fast approaching.
The FAO said there is still time to turn the tide by addressing the immediate needs of rural communities, which are amongst those at greatest risk.
“The situation in Somalia remains dire. Current levels of humanitarian assistance are helping to prevent extreme outcomes, but they are not sufficient to halt the threat of famine beyond a few months at a time,” FAO Representative in Somalia Etienne Peterschmitt said in a statement.
The recently released UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Food Insecurity analysis, which classifies levels of severity from one to five, specifically flags elevated mortality levels in some of the most exposed areas.
According to the latest projection update, between January and March 2023, 1.9 million people are expected to be in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) conditions, increasing to 2.7 million people between April and June.
The analysis warns that up to 727,000 people could face catastrophic food insecurity by June 2023, meaning starvation and death.
Peterschmitt said real action needs to be taken to help communities meet their immediate needs, adapt their livelihoods, and build resilience in the face of climate crises and economic shocks, preparing them for whatever the future may bring.
The FAO, however, warned that the world will never change this continued pattern of hunger extremes in Somalia unless this is accompanied by massively scaled-up investment in resilience and livelihood support.
Somalia has been on the brink of famine in recent months due to the historic drought triggered by five consecutive failed rainy seasons, skyrocketing food prices, and intensifying conflict.
According to the FAO, over 24 million U.S. dollars in cash, alongside livelihoods assistance, has been provided to rural communities that are most exposed to famine as it plans to reach over a million more people in the coming months.
Additional funds are still urgently needed to provide life-saving support, the FAO added.

Somali soldiers return from clandestine training in Eritrea 

Source: Hiiraan Online, Wednesday December 21, 2022

Mogadishu (HOL) – The first group of Eritrean-trained recruits arrived at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International airport on Wednesday, days after President Mohamud said the soldiers would begin returning home.

The number of recruits repatriated on Wednesday is still unknown.

sA government statement is expected in the coming hours.

Following his electoral defeat in May, former President Farmajo publicly confirmed for the first time that his government had sent 5,000 recruits to train in Eritrea.

President Mohamud promised the Somali recruits they would soon be repatriated back to Somalia when he visited them in Asmara in July. Mohamud said the soldiers would put their new skills to the test in the war against Al Shabaab

A UN report last year alleged that  Somali soldiers fought alongside Eritrean troops in Tigray; however, the Somali government denied that its forces were deployed in active combat.

President Mohamud said the subsequent groups of recruits will be repatriated in exercises is expected to last until January 2023.

A Pessimistic Take on Ethiopia’s Peace Agreement

 Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science blog posted on 15 December 2022 a commentary titled “Peace Agreement Signed in Pretoria But the Future of Ethiopia Remains Uncertain” by Yohannes Woldemariam.

The author states that “Ethiopia is an empire that could be staring at complete disintegration.”  He concludes that the solution for survival may be creation of a “loose confederation” of states.  

Amir attends closing ceremony of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 

Source: Peninsula, Monday December 19, 2022

Doha: The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani attended on Sunday evening the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at Lusail Stadium.

The ceremony was attended by HH the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, HH the Personal Representative of HH the Amir Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani, HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Thani, HE Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani, HE Speaker of the Shura Council Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim and a host of Their Excellences Sheikhs and ministers.

The ceremony was also attended by HM King of Malaysia Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, HE President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, HE President of the Federal Republic of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, HE President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, HE President of the Republic of Rwanda Paul Kagame, HE President of the Republic of Namibia Hage Geingob, HE President of the Togolese Republic Faure Gnassingbe, HE President of the Republic of Kenya William Ruto, HE President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, HE President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, First Lady of the Republic of Madagascar Mialy Razakandisa Rajoelina, HE Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, HE Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, HE President of Kurdistan Region in Iraq Nechirvan Barzani, HE Minister of Transport and Representative of Canada’s Prime Minister Omar Alghabra, HE the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, along with the heads of Olympic committees and federations, Their Excellencies heads of diplomatic missions accredited to the country, senior sports officials, and a large masses of fans.

Somalia and Ethiopia Head International Rescue Committee’s Worst Crises for 2023

 Source: : The International Rescue Committee published on 14 December 2022 “The Top 10 Crises the World Can’t Ignore in 2023.”  The list provides an explanation why each country was included.

The International Rescue Committee’s list of the world’s 10 worst crises for 2023 is headed by Somalia and followed by Ethiopia.  Other African countries in the top 10 are the Democratic Republic of Congo (4), South Sudan (7), and Burkina Faso (8).  The world’s top 10 is rounded out with Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Haiti, and Ukraine

World Bank Rewards and Warns Ethiopia

 sOURCE: The Addis Standard published on 15 December 2022 an article titled “WB Emphasizes Importance of Ending Ethiopia’s Internal Conflict, Full Implementation of Peace Agreement, Board Approves $745 m Grant.”

The World Bank approved $745 million in grants for health systems and flood management in Ethiopia.  The Bank also emphasized the importance of ending internal conflict and achieving lasting peace

Somalia gets 70 mln USD World Bank grant to improve services 

Source:XINHUANET, Sunday December 18, 2022

Mogadishu, Somalia | Xinhua | The World Bank said it has approved a 70 million U.S. dollar International Development Association (IDA) grant to develop resilient water, agriculture, and environmental services for rural communities in Somalia’s drylands.

The Somalia Water for Rural Resilience Project, known as “Barwaaqo” and builds on the Biyoole project, comes at a critical time when Somalia is facing an unprecedented multi-season drought and worsening food insecurity.

World Bank Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist Chantal Richey said the Barwaaqo project will integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation measures and will support the strengthening of natural resources management.

“This includes water harvesting and storage, soil conservation, afforestation, and rangelands restoration around water points to slowly ‘green’ the drylands,” Richey was quoted as saying in a statement issued on Thursday evening.

The World Bank said the project will expand services in Somaliland, Puntland, Galmudug, and the South West States while expanding to include two additional federal member states, Hirshabelle and Jubbaland, where the project will focus on the areas situated away from the floodplains of the Shabelle and the Jubba rivers.

It said this project will provide water to 500,000 people, representing approximately 15 percent of the rural population, who currently only have access to limited services and unimproved or surface water.

Kristina Svensson, World Bank country manager for Somalia, said the Barwaaqo project supports communities to build resilience and adapt to climate change by improving access to water resources in a dryland environment.

The World Bank said environmental challenges, exacerbated by climate change over the years, have contributed to the degrading of over a quarter of Somalia’s territory, and that coupled with deforestation and loss of soil, rural livelihoods are under threat.

These challenges, along with droughts, it said, also cause pastoralists to lose their livestock, their main source of wealth and income, while farmers and agro-pastoralists lose their harvest, which is their main source of food.

 US-hosted Africa summit opens with focus on youth, security 

Source: AP, By MATTHEW LEE and AAMER MADHANI
Wednesday December 14, 2022

Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak to the African Diaspora Young Leaders Forum, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday opened the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington by spotlighting Africa’s youthful population — making the case that the continent’s demographics will inevitably lead it to become a key global player in the decades to come.

Harris offered the optimistic thread at the start of the Biden administration’s three-day gathering that’s bringing in leaders from 49 African nations and the African Union for high-level talks. The vice president also announced that the administration would invest an additional $100 million to expand the Young African Leaders Initiative and that the U.S. Export-Import Bank was entering new memorandums of understanding that will clear the way for $1 billion in new commercial financing in Africa.

The vice president’s appearance at the forum was one in a series of events designed to showcase U.S. interest in and commitment to Africa after years of what some officials have lamented was a lack of involvement in the continent that has increasingly become a battleground for global influence between the U.S. and China.

President Joe Biden, who is set to meet leaders on Wednesday, signed an executive order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement. The African diaspora includes nearly 2 million African immigrants as well as many African American descendants of enslaved people who have close connections to the continent.

About 60% of Africa’s population is under 25, and the young population is to grow to 80% by 2050, which Harris said makes increased focus on the continent necessary.

“This represents an enormous potential for the world in terms of economic growth, and for social and political progress,” Harris told a young leaders forum. “I strongly believe that the creativity and ingenuity of Africa’s young leaders will help shape the future. And that their ideas, your ideas, innovation and initiatives will benefit the entire world.”

Even before the summit began, the White House announced Biden’s support for the African Union becoming a permanent member of the Group of 20 nations and said it had appointed Johnnie Carson, a well-regarded veteran diplomat with decades of experience on the continent, to serve as point person for implementing initiatives.

And, Biden is expected to announce before the end of the summit that he will make a multi-country visit to Africa next year, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the announcement of the trip.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday met with the presidents of Djibouti, Niger and Somalia. Blinken and Austin also held talks with the president of Angola, whose oil-rich country has been a major recipient of Chinese investment in recent years and has toyed with allowing China to open a naval base.

The meeting with Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud came as a United Nations report published Tuesday showed that several parts of Somalia are at risk of famine in the coming months.

Djibouti is home to a major U.S. military base as well as a Chinese military facility and both Niger and Somalia have been epicenters of terrorist activity from the Boko Haram, al-Shabab and other Islamic State affiliated groups as well as American efforts to combat it.

“We simply want to use this morning to continue building on the close partnership that we have to discuss in particular security cooperation and other shared priorities, including climate, health, education, food security,” Blinken said.

“We’re grateful for all of your countries’ robust cooperation with the United States,” Austin said, noting that Djibouti hosts the U.S. base Camp Lemonier. “Our partnerships contribute directly to many of the key goals in our National Defense Strategy, including defending our country, deterring aggression, and combating violent extremism.”

The administration is hosting leaders and senior officials this week in a not-so-subtle pitch to compete with China on the continent. The aim is to convince its guests that the U.S. offers a better option to African partners.

The continent, whose leaders often feel they’ve been given short shrift by leading economies, remains crucial to global powers because of its rapidly growing population, significant natural resources and sizable voting bloc in the United Nations.

Africa remains of great strategic importance as the U.S. recalibrates its foreign policy with greater focus on China — what the Biden administration sees as the United States’ most significant economic and military adversary.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday said the administration would commit to spending $55 billion in Africa over the the next three years on “a wide range of sectors to tackle the core challenges of our time.”

Somalia not yet in famine but still in danger, report says 

Source: AP, CARA ANNA
Wednesday December 14, 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somalia has not yet fallen into famine but several parts of the country are in danger of it in the coming months, according to a new food security report on the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades.

The report released Tuesday by United Nations and other experts says more than 8 million people are badly food insecure as Somalia faces “an unprecedented level of need” after five consecutive failed rainy seasons and “exceptionally high” food prices. Thousands of people have died.

The report says the “most likely scenario” will see more than 700,000 people in famine between April and June of next year in two parts of Somalia’s southwestern Bay region and among displaced people in the town of Baidoa and the capital, Mogadishu.

Several other parts of central and southern Somalia also will see an increased risk of famine if a sixth straight rainy season fails early next year, the report says.

Food security experts earlier this year warned of famine in parts of Somalia by the end of 2022 without an increase in international humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian workers say the war in Ukraine has diverted the funding of some key donors. Hours after the new report was released Tuesday, the United States announced $411 million in additional funding for Somalia’s crisis.

Famine is the extreme lack of food and a significant death rate from outright starvation or malnutrition combined with diseases like cholera. A formal famine declaration means data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, more than 30% of children are acutely malnourished and over two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.

But such data in Somalia are incomplete because of insecurity in some of the worst-affected areas, and some humanitarian groups assert that famine is even now well under way. “Famine is already present and killing tens of thousands silently in Somalia,” the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a statement, claiming the new report “may lead the international community into further complacency.” The last famine in Somalia in 2011 killed over a quarter-million people, it said.

“They should not wait for the famine to be declared, we have been telling them,” Islamic Relief’s country director, Aliow Mohamed, said of governments and other donors in an interview last week. “If the world only waits for famine to be declared (to help), that will be very disheartening.”

Neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya also are struggling in the drought, but the new report offers a grim look at Somalia’s multiple crises. Insecurity caused by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab extremist group limits access to hungry people, and its fighters have destroyed water wells and food sources in retaliation for its losses in a new government offensive.

Meanwhile, food and fuel prices in Somalia have soared, part of a global problem. And crops have suffered, making food even more scarce for the months to come.

“Many households have already lost or sold their last breeding animal,” the new report says. Millions of livestock in the country of pastoralists have died, leaving families without their traditional source of wealth and health.

The Islamic Relief country director described the flow of desperate people arriving in Baidoa, with some walking hundreds of kilometers (miles) to seek help and dozens of families arriving daily. Last month, he met a heavily pregnant woman who had walked barefoot for a week with two of her seven children. They didn’t eat on the journey and hoped to survive in the camps by begging until they could be formally registered for aid. That can take a week, Mohamed said.

“When they come, they just sleep on the ground, no shelter for them, no water for them, no food for them, no health,” he said.

Some Somali officials, including the president, have expressed hesitation over declaring famine amid concerns it would take away from their efforts to show that the country is shedding its past as a failed state.

Whether or not there’s a formal famine, “the needs are clearly there,” Kev Esteban Del Castillo, the famine response manager in Somalia for Catholic Relief Services, said in an interview last week. “Why can’t we just do something?” He said the U.N. “really mobilizes resources” when a famine is formally declared, and he believes some available funding is being used on other global emergencies until then.

Del Castillo described a period of more funding for the crisis a few months ago, “but that has slowed down a lot lately” even as more people across Somalia seek help.

“There are people who have given up hope, people who in some periods are used to missing a season or two of rain, but not this,” he said. “They have never seen this.”

A doctor with the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) aid group in Baidoa, Asma Aweis Abdallah, this month said more than 200,000 people had fled to the town this year. She said 500 children a week are admitted into MSF’s feeding programs there, with malnutrition making them more vulnerable to diseases including cholera and measles.

Some of the children are just “skin on bone,” she said. “Being Somali, and this being the situation of the Somali community, it makes me feel very sad.”

 Source: The Addis Standard published on 24 November 2022 a commentary titled “In Depth Analysis: Can Ethiopia Peace Agreement Resolve War in Tigray and Bring Lasting Peace to Its Devastated Population?” by Beka Atoma Boru.

This account reflects considerable skepticism that the Ethiopian peace agreement signed in Pretoria and Nairobi can achieve its goals.

US Calls for Quick Implementation of Ethiopian Peace Agreement

 Source: The Sudan Tribune published on 23 November 2022 an article titled “U.S. Urges Speedy Implementation of Ethiopian Peace Deal” by Tesfa-Alem Tekle.

In a telephone call with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized the need for a speedy implementation of the peace agreement with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.  

 The US military operation in Somalia, explained 

Source: Middle East Eye, By MEE staff
Saturday November 26, 2022

Biden promised to end the ‘forever wars’ in the Middle East. So why did the US redeploy troops to Somalia earlier this year?

An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) in Indian Springs, Nevada. The US has conducted at least 265 air strikes in Somalia (AFP/File photo)

Ahead of a trip to Saudi Arabia this year, US President Joe Biden said he would be the first president to visit the Middle East since 9/11 “without US troops engaged in a combat mission there”.

But the lack of troops in action has not stopped the US from maintaining a military presence in the region, and one area where this is perhaps most pertinent is Somalia, a country in which the US has been engaged in a long-standing fight against militant groups.

Yet beyond the major headlines, not much is known about the exact nature of the American military operation in Somalia, an overshadowed and overlooked theatre in the US “war on terror”.

MEE takes a look at why the US military is in Somalia, and what kind of military operation it’s running in the Horn of Africa.

What is the US doing in Somalia?

President Donald Trump’s administration moved to withdraw all 700 American troops from Somalia in 2020, after a three-decade presence in the country.

Soon after the Biden administration came into office it reversed the Trump move, and in May 2022 US officials said the president approved a plan to redeploy troops to Somalia.

The reason given for the move was as a part of the Biden administration’s strategy to try to reduce the threat from al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group that has enjoyed a resurgence in Somalia in recent years.

A US official told The New York Times that Washington was “targeting a small leadership cadre” and in particular looking to target individuals “suspected of playing roles in developing plots outside Somalia’s borders”.

What does the US military presence look like?

The physical US military presence in Somalia is relatively small, numbering around 500 troops.

However, the counterterrorism operation the US is conducting is wide-ranging, and employs a tactic which has received much criticism from rights groups over the past two decades: drone warfare.

And despite the concerns raised over the use of armed drones in areas in which the US is not formally engaged in a combat mission, the Biden administration has launched a rapid pace of air strikes in the country.

In June, US Africa Command (Africom) conducted an air strike in Somalia that reportedly killed five members of al-Shabab. In July, another air strike killed two militants. A month later, Africom conducted at least five air strikes that reportedly killed 17 “al-Shabaab terrorists”. In September, Africom said it killed 27 fighters in a strike.

Last month, Africom announced that it conducted an air strike that killed “one al-Shabaab leader” and that “no civilians were injured or killed”. And just this month, it conducted an air strike in which Africom said it killed 17 al-Shabaab fighters.

In October, Biden signed a new classified policy to limit counterterrorism drone strikes outside conventional war zones. The new policy is meant to solidify the limits that the administration imposed early into its tenure, which served as a temporary stop-gap against the Trump administration’s moves to loosen oversight.

However, Sarah Harrison, a senior fellow at the International Crisis Group, stated in a piece for Just Security that the new policy would likely have little effect on US operations in Somalia, given that it “contains loopholes that will likely allow business as usual for USAFRICOM in Somalia”.

What permission does the US military have to be there?

The US Congress is the branch of the American government that has the authority to declare war.

Despite Congress not having declared war in Somalia, the Biden administration has used the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to bypass restrictions.

The open-ended nature of the 2001 AUMF has allowed multiple presidents to wage war against a number of groups, including al-Qaeda, the Taliban, al-Shabab, and Islamic State (IS).

It has been applied in countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.

And while the Biden administration has signalled it supports ending the – different – 2002 AUMF specifically for Iraq, it has not shown any support for revoking the wider-ranging 2001 AUMF, despite calls from lawmakers.

The Somali government has recently asked the US to step up its drone strikes on al-Shabaab targets to include those “who might pose a threat to Somali forces – even if they are not firing upon them at the moment”. The Biden administration is weighing the request, which would mean a significant escalation by Washington.

How is the US faring in Somalia?

In August, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin lauded the country’s military operation in Africa, saying it “works alongside our friends as full partners – to strengthen bonds, to tackle common threats, and to advance a shared vision of an Africa whose people are safe and prosperous”.

But a recent report from the Pentagon’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies contradicted this, saying: “Militant Islamist group violence in Africa has risen inexorably over the past decade, expanding by 300 percent during this time.”

In Somalia alone, the Pentagon recorded 2,221 “violent events”, with battles between al-Shabaab and the country’s state security forces making up 72 percent of them.

And the report noted that Somalia’s al-Shabab was linked to 36 percent of all militant group violence recorded in Africa in the past year.

The US has spent roughly $2.5bn on security assistance for Somalia since 2009, according to data from the Center for International Policy. And since 2007, it has conducted at least 265 air strikes, according to Airwars.

Sudan court quashes decision to stone woman to death 

Source: BBC, Saturday November 26, 2022

An appeal court in southern White Nile state in Sudan has invalidated a court decision that a young woman convicted of adultery be stoned to death, her lawyer said.

In June, a court in Kosti town found Maryam Tiraab guilty under a Sudanese law that states that a married person, male or female, be stoned to death if he/she commits adultery.

Intisaar Abdullah, her defence lawyer, told the Sudan Tribune news website, on Thursday that a court of appeal “invalidated the court ruling concerning Tiraab”.

Ms Abdullah said that the court of appeal decided to return the case to the trial court, and ordered it to reconsider the ruling, saying that it had not “taken into consideration the guidelines of a fair trial”.

She said that the court of appeal also ordered the trial court to restart the litigation process afresh, in accordance with “instructions it had issued”, without giving more details.

Ms Tiraab’s defence lawyers said that the previous ruling was “illegal” since their client had no “legal representation”.

Ms Tiraab, 20, who separated from her husband in 2020, was accused of adultery by her husband a year later.

The trial court’s decision had angered many Sudanese lawyers, who sympathised with Ms Tiraab, and vowed to appeal against the decision.

Ethiopia, Somalia agree to enhance multilateral partnership 

Source: Hiiraan Online, Saturday November 26, 2022

Mogadishu (HOL) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen met his Somali counterpart Saleh Ahmed Jama on the sidelines of the ongoing AU Extra-Ordinary Summit in Naimey, Niger, on Thursday.

The two Deputy Prime Ministers have agreed to forge a deeper bilateral and multilateral partnership.

Both sides have also agreed to hold a joint ministerial commission as early as possible.

“Peace in Ethiopia has a multiplier effect on Somalia and beyond. He also commended Ethiopia for its critical role in the fight against terrorism,” said Saleh Ahmed Jama

Demeke noted that Ethiopia is prepared to share its experience in different sectors with Somalia.

Two weeks ago, the Ethiopian National Information and Security Service and its counterpart in Somalia signed a memorandum of understanding to carry out coordinated information exchange and joint operations to prevent Al-Shabaab, a threat in the Horn of Africa, stop its terrorist activities.

The MoU was signed by the Director General of the Ethiopian NISS, Temesegen Tiruneh, and the Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia, Mahad Mohammed, in Ethiopia.

Mahad Mohammed also stated that Ethiopia has great capacity and experience in preventing and foiling terrorism.

Implementing the Ethiopian Peace Agreement

 Source: The International Crisis Group published on 23 November 2022 an analysis titled “Turning the Pretoria Deal into a Lasting Peace in Ethiopia.”

The International Crisis Group has proposed steps for implementing the Ethiopian peace agreement signed in Pretoria early this mont

WFP warns drought leading to food insecurity, acute malnutrition in Horn of Africa 

Source: xinhuua, Thursday November 24, 2022

A mother and her children were seen in a drought-affected village in the town of Laisamis, Marsabit County, Kenya, on Oct. 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) — The impact of drought in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia has led to food insecurity and a high level of acute malnutrition, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

The WFP, in its latest drought response situation report released Tuesday, said some 22 million people are food insecure due to drought across the affected countries.

It further warned that the loss of livestock and reduced productivity has eroded the livelihoods of the affected pastoral communities.

In 2022 alone, at least 9.2 million livestock deaths occurred in the drought-effected areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to figures from the WFP.

This photo shows a girl fetching water in the town of Laisamis, Marsabit County, Kenya, on Aug. 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

The WFP, citing the latest IPC Famine Review Committee projections, further warned that famine is likely to occur in three areas in the Bay region in Somalia between October to December.

It said the drought condition is further deteriorating the already dire humanitarian condition across the region.

“The food insecurity situation in Eastern Africa continues to deteriorate owing to extreme weather conditions, conflict, and macroeconomic challenges (inflation, currency devaluation),” the WFP said.

It said the region has recorded a significant increase in the price of local food baskets with Somalia recording the most expensive food basket in the region.

Amid the worsening impacts of the ongoing drought, the WFP said it has scaled up response across the Horn of Africa to respond to severe food shortages by providing lifesaving food and nutrition assistance to affected communities.

In Somalia, WFP has more than doubled its life-saving food assistance from 1.7 million people in April 2022 with plans to reach 4.5 million in the coming months, it said.

People were seen at a camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, on Feb. 4, 2022.  (Photo by Hassan Bashi/Xinhua)

The WFP is also enabling communities to recover faster and better from the drought by investing in interventions that promote resilience and adaptive capacities of communities to deal with shocks.

It, however, noted that forecasts indicate a potential increase in needs, in which additional funding is needed to sustain and scale up assistance to prevent more dire outcomes.

The WFP said it urgently needs 1.27 billion U.S. dollars for all its operations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia for the period from November 2022 to April 2023.