More food for aid for Somali refugees off-loaded in port
Listen The African Union has received an assortment of humanitarian supplies from Equatorial Guinea, including medical supplies, to be transported to Somalia, a senior official said on Monday. AU Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha said they received the humanitarian aid from Equatorial Guinea, part of the 350 million U. S. dollars aid pledge made to help [...]
Somalia government evicts squatters from state-owned buildings
Listen Mogadishu (Alshahid)-The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia has started a major operation to remove tens of thousands of people who have been squatting in state-owned buildings in the capital. Aid agencies in Somalia estimate that more than 50,000 people live in abandoned official buildings in Mogadishu, the nation’s capital. An abandoned school in [...]
TWO Somalis have been murdered in Cape Town
Listen Cape Town (Alshahid) -The men were shot in the head while they were delivering groceries to their shops. They died on the scene in Red Bay Street. The criminals fled with a bakkie full of groceries and an undisclosed amount of cash. A witness, Buyiswa Gaji, said: “I was going to the shop when [...]
800 Somali kids arrive in Kenyan camps daily; SOS
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) -An international aid group says over 800 Somali children arrive at Kenyan refugee camps each day to escape their country’s devastating drought. Save the Children says that the children are part of the nearly 1,300 people who come each day to the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camps in northeastern Kenya. The group said [...]
Somalia: Rains worsen conditions for IDPs
Listen Afgoye (Alshahid) – The month-late start of Somalia’s long rains may bring respite to the country’s farmers and pastoralists, but for hundreds of thousands of displaced people crowded into an insurgent-controlled area almost entirely bereft of humanitarian assistance, the deluge delivers only more problems. The “Gu” rains usually start in early April, but this [...]
UN condemns shooting of Somali asylum seekers by Mozambican police
Listen Degado Mozambique (Alshahid) -The United Nations refugee agency Friday condemned the recent shooting by Mozambican police of four Somali asylum-seekers and called on authorities to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. The four Somalis were fatally shot on 29 April, reportedly in Namoto in Cabo Delgado province, according to a press statement [...]
US calls for action on refugees’ woes in Kenya camps
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) -The US has identified overcrowding and security concerns, including rape, banditry and shooting as major problems at both Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. A State Department human rights report also cited the persecution of Muslim converts to Christianity, community pressure against opponents of female genital mutilation, forced marriage, particularly of young Sudanese [...]
HRW pleads for Somali asylum seekers in Kenya
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) -A global human rights watchdog wants Kenya to stop deporting Somalis fleeing conflict in their country. Kenya should allow humanitarian agencies to help fleeing Somali civilians instead of sending them back to their war-torn country, urged Human Rights Watch (HRW). The rights group has also asked Kenya not to close [...]
Somali drought displaces tens of thousands: UN
Listen Hargeisa (Alshahid) – With drought spreading to almost all regions of Somalia, officials and aid workers have expressed concern for those affected, saying drought was now a major cause of displacement, IRI reports. “Drought, not insecurity, is now the main reason for new displacement in Somalia,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian [...]
Yemen unrest forces Somalia refugees to risk crossing Deadly Red Sea
Listen Mogadishu (Alshahid) – Unrest in Yemen has prompted hundreds of Somali refugees to once again risk a deadly sea crossing, this time to return to their home country, say officials and migrants. This year alone some 89 people drowned or went missing while crossing the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen. The [...]