PLATFORMS

SANAG (SOHA) – Displaced families from the Somali region of Ethiopia living on the outskirts of Badhan town in northern Somalia’s Sanag region are surviving under difficult conditions without access to food and proper shelter. The 27 families, who fled from conflict between Somalis and Oromos in eastern Ethiopia, have been …

TORONTO (SOHA) – New Victoria city councillor Sharmarke Dubow may be fresh to politics but he’s already mastered the game of life. Kylie Stanton has more on his journey from refugee camp to Canadian citizen, and now, city hall. A Victoria city councillor was elected the first time he was …

MOGADISHU (SOHA) – An upsurge in insecurity and conflict has triggered a new wave of displacement in the Lower Shabelle region of South West State. According to UNHCR-led Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN), more than 34,000 people have fled the area since the beginning of August, joining thousands of …

OTTAWA (SOHA) – The United Nations High Commission for refugees is seeking a greater global commitment in helping educate over a million children living in refugee camps in the horn of Africa who are out of school to help them build them a better future, it’s envoy for the region …

OTTAWA (SOHA) – The United Nations refugee agency is asking Canada to resettle more refugees from the Horn of Africa, emphasizing the needs of particularly vulnerable Somalis displaced by a decades-long conflict in the war-torn country. Mohamed Abdi Affey, the special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees …

HARGEISA (SOHA) – For the last six years, Elmi Noor, 38, has been making $4,000 a month from what he terms a ‘lucrative business’ – smuggling young people from across East Africa to Libya, where they are invariably held for ransom by criminal gangs under cruel conditions. Noor coordinates a …

DADAAB (SOHA) – Over 10,000 Somali refugees, who have been denied legal refugee status in northern Kenya’s Dadaab camps, are lacking access to basics such as food, shelter, and healthcare. The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR reports that 10,454 Somali refugees, uprooted from their homes by drought and the threat of Al-Shabaab, …

MOGADISHU (SOHA) – Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab rebels are profiting from the illegal trafficking of charcoal exports produced in Somalia and transiting through Iran, United Nations experts said in a report recently shared with the UN Security Council. “The process involved using false Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana certificates of …

BOSSASO (SOHA) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a new tropical storm watch Friday for parts of northern Somalia as Storm LUBAN is expected to lead to winds of medium strength with moderate rainfall. According to the alert issued by FAO, the tropical storm that developed in …

LONDON (SOHA) – Harriett Baldwin, the British Foreign Office development minister for Africa, has completed a tour of East African nations to announce development and humanitarian aid from the United Kingdom. Baldwin made stops in Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, including a visit with President Muse Bihi in Somaliland to pledge UK …