NEWS

MOGADISHU — Lower House speaker Mohamed Mursal has formed a committee to investigate the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country as the Ministry of Health warns of a second wave of the pandemic. Mursal said the nine-member committee of lawmakers will be mandated with collecting information countrywide and …

MOGADISHU — African ministers from countries that are contributing troops to Somalia have expressed concern about the continued recruitment drive by al-Shabab in the Horn of African nation. The ministers who met virtually to review the security situation in Somalia in a joint statement issued on Thursday also expressed deep …

GALKAYO — Reports from Mudug region say that fierce clan fighting has erupted again in Huldooyale area under Amara region. The fighting between two clan militias is based on previous clan killings in the area, according to local sources. Reports say that fighting that broke out in Huldooyale district again …

MOGADISHU — Muslima Abdirahman, a Somali mother of nine, escaped death twice in the past two years while shopping for groceries in Mogadishu, where Islamist insurgents regularly carry out suicide bombings on busy streets and markets. She shudders at the memories: “I wiped my tears with my veil and went …

MOGADISHU — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Tuesday it has intensified efforts to contain the spread of the desert locusts in Somalia that pose a huge threat to food security. In its desert locust situation update, FAO said an increasing number of hopper bands are forming in central …

ROMA — People in four food insecurity “hotspots” inside Burkina Faso, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen, need help urgently to avoid sliding into famine, UN humanitarians said on Friday. “We are concerned that they may be facing an elevated risk of famine if the situation would further deteriorate over the …

DJIBOUTI — The European Union has approved an additional €17.2 million through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) to support COVID-19 preparedness in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen said the additional funds will be directed towards supporting vulnerable people and strengthening health …

BOSSASO — Police in Bossaso town have arrested two men in connection with the rape and killing of a small girl in the area. The two admitted raping and killing Naimo Abdi Mohamed whose body was found in the city’s Raf and Raaho neighborhood. One of the suspects, Mohamed Abdi …

MOGADISHU — Having scraped money together following medical studies abroad, Somali doctor Abdullahi Sheikdon Dini opened Mogadishu’s first advanced diagnostic laboratory in January. Its arrival could hardly have been better timed because, just two months later, the coronavirus epidemic reached the Horn of Africa country. Since then Medipark Diagnostics, which …

BELEDWEYNE — The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has handed over Personal Protective Equipment and sanitary supplies to the administration of the Hiran region in Beledweyne district. The donation will support efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in about thirty camps for Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in the …