Somalia

Co-ordination and planning for ATMIS (African Union Transition Mission in Somalia) operations against al Shabaab is moving up a level with joint operations centres (JOCs) set up in areas of responsibility across the troubled East African country.

Security experts say Somalia's government must focus on strengthening its security system to defeat the terrorist group al-Shabab. The latest intensified military offensive against the Islamist militants sparked counter attacks  in the south and central regions of the country.

ATMIS, the African Union (AU) mission in Somalia, provided air and indirect fire support to elements of the Somali National Armed Forces in a number of exchanges with “terrorists”.

Somalia is facing a "very alarming" situation after more than four years of drought have devastated livestock many people depend upon, a top UN official said on Tuesday.

Following the end of the “contentious” electoral process in May, the political climate in Somalia is now more conducive to addressing key national priorities, UN Special Representative James Swan told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Somalia is at a “tipping point”, with hundreds of thousands of people at immediate risk of famine, the heads of the UN’s highest-level humanitarian coordination forum have warned. 

In a televised speech Tuesday night, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced that his government will launch a "total war" against al-Qaida-affiliated militant group al-Shabab, after the group staged a deadly hotel siege in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 100.

Years of insufficient rainfall across Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia have caused the worst drought in 40 years and conditions akin to famine in the hardest-hit areas, aid groups say. An unprecedented four failed rainy seasons has killed millions of livestock, destroyed crops and forced 1.1 million people from their homes in search of food and water.

Somalia’s government this week announced plans to crack down on so-called shadow courts run by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab. The country’s interior minister acknowledged that many Somalis go to the militants for justice because Somalia’s legal system is too weak.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni and his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud want the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to lift an arms embargo on the Horn of Africa country to build the capacity to manage its security mandate.