Kenya, Ethiopia may attack Somalia alshabaab rebels
Listen Isiolo, Kenya (Alshahid) – Kenyan and Ethiopian troops could attack Somali rebel group al Shabaab inside the Horn of Africa nation following the rebels’ latest threat to strike at Kenya, security sources said on Monday. The al Shabaab group, which claims ties to al Qaeda and has been waging a four-year insurgency against Somalia [...]
UN council OKs big increase in AU Somalia force
Listen United Nations (Alshahid) – The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday authorized a boost in the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Somalia from 8,000 to 12,000 troops to shore up the country’s government against Islamist insurgents. The force, known as AMISOM, currently consists of soldiers from Uganda and Burundi. Uganda is expected to provide the [...]
Kenya President and PM to send away US envoy
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) -Kenya will ask America to recall its Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, whose top-secret communiques to the US Department of State have provoked a furore in Government. This is only the second time since Independence for Kenya to demand the recall of an envoy. The first was during the old Kanu regime of former [...]
Burundi sends more Peacekeeping troops to Somalia
Listen Bujumbura (Alshahid) -Burundi sent an additional battalion of 850 soldiers to Somalia to bolster the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in the Horn of Africa country, Agence France-Presse reported. The troops were sent last week, the news agency said, citing Gaspard Baratuza, a spokesman for the Burundian army. The deployment brings to about 8,000 the [...]
Peace Keepers or Peace Killers in Mogadishu? UN/AU Continues Somali Slaughter
Listen For over a year now the United Nations/African Union troops in Mogadishu, so called “peacekeepers”, have been regularly firing mortars and artillery into Somali neighborhoods in retaliation for attacks by the Somali resistance. “Peacekeepers” firing artillery into civilian neighborhoods? “Peacekeepers” killing untold thousands of innocent women and children whose only crime was being Somali [...]
America looks to Puntland and Somaliland
Listen By Hussein Yusuf: The United States has been involved in Somalia since the early 1980s, first during the Cold War and then in 1992 during the country’s massive famine by launching the humanitarian mission Operation Restore Hope. In the last decade, however, the United States has become even more involved, actively supporting the Transitional [...]
Will Somalia President Sharif’s PM choice antagonize Puntland?
Listen By Hanad Haidar: One of Somalia’s newspapers has reported that H.E. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed will appoint a new Prime Minister this week. According to Mogadishu Times, in article dated 6 October 2010, the new Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) will be Mr. Saa’id Farah “Shirdon” – a relatively unknown politician from [...]
Neglect of Somalia will have high price
Listen By Justin Marozzi: The west is easily distracted. Just as the war in Iraq diverted attention from Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to regroup and consolidate its hold over much of the country, so the war in Afghanistan has blinded policymakers to the growing crisis in Somalia. Islamist rebels who on Tuesday killed more than [...]
America’s Interests in Kenya and the horn of Africa
Listen It is not a secret that America is indeed interested in Kenya’s affairs and the Horn of Africa. Of-late the Obama administration is involved in the regional affairs openly. The United States Vice-President Mr. Joe Biden visited Kenya recently while the US Secretary for African Affairs Mr. Johnnie Carson has visited Kenya on several [...]
The Relationship between Aid and Security in Eastern Africa
Listen In Africa, the United States (US) military since 9/11 has been involved in the provision of humanitarian and development assistance. This trend is being consolidated in the new US Command for Africa – AFRICOM – that advances a role for the US military in Africa’s development. One of the models for the new command [...]