Somalia

Somalia has been admitted as the eighth member of the East African Community on Friday November 24, 2023, just over a year after the latest entrant, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was admitted into the bloc.

At least 31 people have died in floods caused by heavy rains in Somalia, Information Minister Daud Aweis said on Sunday. Some 500,000 people have also been forced to flee their flooded homes. Aweis said another 1.2 million people could be affected by the disaster and the death toll may rise.

East African Community (EAC) Secretary-General Peter Mathuki says Somalia could be admitted to the bloc this month.

Following the Secretary-General’s strategic review of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the Security Council today extended until 31 October 2024 the Mission’s mandate and tasks, as set out in resolutions 2158 (2014) and 2592 (2021).

Insecurity persists in Somalia, with extremist group Al-Shabaab and fighting in the Laascaanood region taking a heavy toll on civilians, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Thursday.

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The head of the African Union Mission in Somalia has called for international support for Somali government forces who are battling the al-Shabab militant group on multiple fronts in the country. Mohamed El-Amine Souef says the Somali army needs not just training but weapons, equipment and skills for the officers, and lifting the arms embargo so that the country can buy weapons.

The Somali government on Wednesday said government troops have killed hundreds of militants during military operations in the last two months.

Eleven Somali government soldiers were killed and three others injured in a roadside explosion Monday in the southwestern Gedo region, officials said, as the African Union peacekeeping force began a second round of troop withdrawals. … The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the roadside explosion.

The European Union's executive said on Tuesday that disbursements of humanitarian aid in Somalia were "temporarily suspended" after a United Nations probe found widespread theft and misuse of support meant to avert famine.