Somalia

Somalia has made “enormous strides on its path to peace and stability”, and Somali women’s participation in peace and security efforts has “helped advance society towards an inclusive and peaceful future”, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Wednesday.

Despite increasing concern that Al-Shabaab has become even more daring after attacking the Halane Base Camp, the African Union peacekeeping force says the group is gambling with mortar bombs to strike fear. Mortar bombs fire explosive shells at close targets.

Seven people were wounded after a mortar attack by al-Shabab militants hit the area around Mogadishu airport on Sunday, Somali witnesses and officials say. The mortars landed on the heavily-guarded Halane area of the airport that houses the African Union and United Nations Mission in Somalia.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the UN ended their five-day meeting in Mogadishu on Monday by agreeing on a comprehensive roadmap to guide the AU mission's activities and operations from 2019 to 2021.

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.