Somalia

The US recently reopened its embassy in Somalia after 28 years, citing security improvements in the East African nation blighted by conflict for many years. The announcement came days after a US military base about 90km outside Mogadishu and an EU envoy in the capital were attacked by Islamist militant group al-Shabab. So has the situation really stabilised?

About 2.1 million people in Somalia face acute food insecurity through to December due to severe drought that has ravaged several parts of the country, the UN has said.

Despite “encouraging” developments, insecurity across Somalia remains a serious concern, James Swan, head of the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), warned the Security Council, in his first briefing to the world body since taking office.

Somalia’s federal state Jubbaland will hold elections on August 21. … (B)ordering the entire Kenyan frontier with Somalia, Jubbaland is politically seen as Kenya’s buffer against Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

Somalia and the United States have agreed to intensify security operations to flush out al-Shabab militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

Insurgent and government forces in Somalia together account for some of the highest numbers of children abused in conflicts worldwide, the United Nations secretary-general said on Tuesday.

A suspected al-Shabab suicide bomber killed at least six people Wednesday and injured six others, including the mayor of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses and security officials said. The attack took place at local government headquarters in Mogadishu, … .

At least 17 people were killed and 28 others wounded when a bomb went off outside a hotel near the international airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Monday, medical officials said. The Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab, which is trying to topple Somalia’s weak U.N.-backed government, claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 26 people, including a prominent journalist and several foreigners, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in southern Somalia. … Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed the attack, the worst to hit Kismayo since they were forced out in 2012.