Somalia

The United States is again targeting fighters with the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab terror group in Somalia, launching its second airstrike in the past four days following a nearly six-month hiatus that began when President Joe Biden took office.

Somali terrorist group al-Shabab has threatened to attack electoral delegates who will be choosing lawmakers in parliamentary elections beginning next week. The Islamist militant group has threatened to disrupt the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in the Horn of Africa country.Artikeltext

Somalia has taken another crucial step in its bid to conduct much-delayed elections, after opposition groups changed their stance and accepted an electoral boss they had initially rejected.

U.S. military officials are preparing a proposal to send a special operations contingent back into Somalia, where security conditions have worsened in the months since nearly 700 troops were pulled out of the country, a news report said Tuesday. The plan, which would involve several dozen troops, hasn’t yet been formally presented to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, The New York Times reported. 

It was the deadliest attack in the capital Mogadishu for 18 months.

The Federation of Somali Journalists has launched a campaign to combat the spread of false information, fake news, hate speech and propaganda. The federation says Somalia is already seeing a huge spike in social media misinformation campaigns ahead of elections expected before the end of July.

The Security Council welcomed the agreement reached on Thursday by the Somali federal government and the federal member states leaders on the implementation of the 17 September Electoral Model.

Somalia’s political stakeholders on Thursday signed a definitive agreement that paves the way for the country to hold indirect elections, likely before August this year.

The violence in particular scared many over what could happen if Somalia does not get its act together.