Somalia

TEHRAN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Somalia has released 33 Iranian fishermen and sailors imprisoned in the country, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

Ali Gholampour, Iran's ambassador to Kenya, said that the Iranians were being transferred to their home country by plane, stressing that Somalian officials had expressed readiness to the move towards the process of reviving ties with Iran after several years of diplomatic freeze, according to the IRNA.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s president on Tuesday rejected an agreement signed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to give landlocked Ethiopia access to its coast, calling it a violation of international law.

“We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told a joint session of Somalia’s federal parliament.

MOGADISHU, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Somalia, the African Union Transition Mission (ATMIS), and the UN Support Office (UNSOS) on Saturday jointly announced the resumption of the second phase of the troop withdrawal from the country in December.

Mohammed El-Amine Souef, the special representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission for Somalia and head of ATMIS, said the process to withdraw another 3,000 troops from Somalia was originally intended to conclude by the end of September but was halted following a request by the Somali government for a technical pause.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Floods caused by torrential rainfall have killed at least 31 people in various parts of Somalia, authorities said Sunday.

Since October, floods have displaced nearly half a million people and disrupted the lives of over 1.2 million people, Minister of Information Daud Aweis told reporters in the capital Mogadishu. They have also caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure notably in the Gedo region of southern Somalia, he said.

MOGADISHU, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) has announced that 13 police officers have completed an intensive five-day training program focused on detecting and neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

MOGADISHU, Oct 27 (NNN-XINHUA) — The Somali government on Thursday approved a bill aimed at enhancing efforts to combat maritime crimes such as piracy and kidnapping, with the goal of ensuring the safety of the country’s extensive coastline for economic activities.

The anti-piracy and anti-kidnapping bill, which outlines severe penalties for individuals involved in maritime crimes, was presented to the cabinet by Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Hassan Moalim Mohamud. The bill will be submitted to the parliament for approval.

MOGADISHU, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- More than 30 al-Shabab militants were killed and several others injured in heavy fighting between al-Shabab and Somali National Army (SNA) backed by forces from Galmudug State near Wisil town in central Somalia Wednesday, an official said Thursday.

Deputy Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adala, said that the joint forces defeated al-Shabab militants who were regrouping in areas east of the Mudug region by flushing them out of their strongholds.

MOGADISHU, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a shop selling tea in Somalia’s capital, killing at least seven people, police and witnesses have said.

The explosion occurred inside a tea shop in Bar Bulsho Mogadishu near the presidential palace in central Somalia, said police spokesman Sadik Dudishe.

“All the casualties were people spending time to drink tea,” Dudishe said.

The cafe is frequented by members of the Somali security forces, as well as civilians.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — An explosives-laden vehicle detonated Saturday at a security checkpoint in the central Somalia city of Beledweyne, killing at least 18 people and wounding 40 others, authorities said.

Abdirahman Dahir Gure, the interior minister of Hirshabelle state, announced the toll to journalists.

“Twenty of the wounded have been admitted to Beledweyne hospitals, while another 20 are in critical condition, prompting a request for their airlift to Mogadishu for advanced medical treatment,” he said.