Somalia

Somalia handed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud the presidency for a second time following Sunday's long-overdue election in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, which is confronting an Islamist insurgency and the threat of famine.

Somalia’s presidential elections will be held on May 15, signalling an end to more than a year of delays in establishing a new government.

[…] The Burundian government on Wednesday said 10 soldiers under the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) were killed in the raid on their camp, but the militants suggest that the number of peacekeepers killed is much higher than the Burundi government is reporting.

Somalia's prime minister has asked African Union soldiers to take over protection of lawmakers as they pick new leadership, after warning police and intelligence officials not to interfere in the long-overdue elections.

Terrorist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on Somalia’s parliament Monday that injured at least six people during a joint session. Somalia’s newly elected members of parliament were meeting Monday to approve procedures for the election of speakers when the grounds were hit by a mortar attack.

Somalia has inaugurated 290 new lawmakers, bringing the country a step closer to completing a prolonged electoral process marred by alleged corruption and irregularities. … Dozens more legislators are yet to be selected and sworn in. Later the lawmakers will elect speakers and deputies for both parliamentary chambers before they sit to choose a new president.

Somalia began swearing in new legislators Thursday in a ceremony in Mogadishu, signalling an important step towards creating a new government and electing the president. In Somalia's indirect polls, elected members of the Senate and Lower House are expected to hold a joint session to elect the president.

The African Union on Saturday stood by Mozambican diplomat Francisco Madeira, the head of the continental body’s mission to Somalia, after he was initially ‘expelled’ from the country.

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble declared Ambassador Francisco Madeira, the African Union chair’s special representative for Somalia, persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.

The UN chief issued a statement on Wednesday welcoming the transition to a new African Union (AU) mission in Somalia, pledging the Organization’s “unwavering commitment” to the country, the mission, and the Somali security forces in their ongoing fight against Al-Shabaab militants.