Kenya accused of turning back Somali refugees fleeing from war
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) – Approximately 130 Somali refugees including women and children, who crossed the Libooya border in Northeastern Kenya were turned back by Kenyan authority. According to Hiiraan on Line, these Somali refugees were refused entry and were encamped at an open area in the border. Three women among refugees gave birth while being [...]
Somali refugees’ tale of blood, sweat and tears as she flee Alshabab
Listen Sitting on the barren ground and waving away dust swirling around her, Khadija Abdi Hajji patiently waits for the metal gates to open. Hajji, 62, is in a group of Somalis who have just entered Kenya to escape years of violence in their country. Travelling in a rickety van, they are lucky to have [...]
Plight of Somali Refugees in the Arabian Peninsula
Listen By Mohamed O. Eyow Unfortunate Somalis destined from bad to worse, it’s over two decades now when an armed violence erupted in the home country. The world gets bewildered to mend the unabated political morass. Entire multiple bids by regional and international actors to defuse the prevalent hybrid quandary are yet to deliver. The [...]
Somalia: Ripe moment for aggressive intervention and progressive mediation
Listen In the next few months Somalia will be sadly entering a world record of twenty years of civil war that is not showing any signs of ending. However, scholars who have spent time studying how conflicts begin and end will agree that warring groups in Somalia have reached a hurting stalemate and are now [...]
Kenya should take the blame for its police actions against Somali refugees
Listen A popular Somali saying goes, ‘the best bed that a man can sleep on is peace’ but for Somali refugees there is no even a poor bed, not in Somalia and nor in neighbouring Kenya as well. This week Human Right watch released a nauseating report exploring the suffering of Somali refugees in Kenya. [...]
Tanzania: 3000 Somalis to be granted citizenship
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) – About 3,000 naturalized Somali refugees living in Chogo settlements in Tanga region will soon be granted Tanzanian citizenship, the refugees’ agency said yesterday. The Tanzanian government has offered citizenship to small groups since 2005 including 162,000 Burundi refugees in Rukwa and Tabora region who were granted citizenship recently. “We UNHCR and [...]
UNHCR dismayed at death of Somali asylum seekers off Mozambique coast
Listen Geneva (Alshahid) – UNHCR was saddened to learn this week of the deaths of nine Somali asylum-seekers off the coast of Mozambique on May 30th. They were part of a larger group of 77 Somali nationals trying to reach Mozambique by boat, and 41 of whom were forced into the water. Among those on [...]
UN appoints new special representative for Somalia
Listen New York (Alshahid) – Somalia’s United Nations (UN) representative for Somalia Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah from Mauritania has been replaced by Augustine P. Mahiga of the United Republic of Tanzania, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Thursday. Mahiga, who holds a PhD in Philosophy and International Relations from the University of Toronto, Canada has [...]
One civilian killed while 3 others wounded in Mogadshu shelling.
Listen Mogadishu (Alshahid) –At least one person was killed while three others were wounded ion Hodan district in the Somali capital Mogadishu following a mortar shelling on residential area, witness and reports said on Saturday. The shelling comes as he feuding parties have temporarily stopped clashing in Mogadishu. On Friday, UN reports indicated that renewed [...]
Somali clashes continue to kill and uproot thousands, reports UN agency
Listen Mogadishu (Alshahid) – Renewed fighting between Government troops and armed opposition groups have displaced over 17,000 people from the Somali capital, Mogadishu, over the past month, with more than 14,300 fleeing in the last two weeks alone, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. This brings to 200,000 the number of Somalis estimated to [...]