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Al Shabaab, linked to Al Qaeda, has been waging an insurgency against the Somali government since 2006 (file image)

UN helicopter captured by Islamist group in Somalia

Al Shabaab militants have captured a United Nations helicopter carrying two Somali men and several foreigners after it made an emergency landing in an area controlled by the Islamist group, a military official has said.

World • 11 Jan 24

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged in March to end the complex voting system (photo: Somalian Presidency handout)

Somalia set to introduce direct universal suffrage

Somalia's government and federal member states has said that direct universal suffrage would be introduced with local elections set for June 2024.

World • 28 May 23

The attack took place at the same busy junction where a truck packed with explosives blew up on 14 October 2017, killing 512 people

Car bombs kill at least 100 at busy Somalia market

The two car bombs that exploded at Somalia's education ministry next to a busy market intersection killed at least 100 people and wounded 300, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said, warning the death toll could rise.

World • 30 Oct 22

A baby is treated for at the Banadir Maternity and Children Hospital in Mogadishu

'Famine at the door' in Somalia, warns UN

Famine will occur in parts of Somalia between October and December, the United Nations has warned, as a drought worsens and global food prices hover near record highs.

World • 05 Sep 22

Security officers patrol near the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia

Somali forces end hotel siege, death toll reaches 21

Somali forces have ended a deadly siege at a hotel in the capital Mogadishu which saw morethan 20 people killed and dozens of hostages freed, authorities said today.

Somalia • 21 Aug 22

An ambulance is seen near the the site of the Hayat hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu

At least 13 dead as militants attack hotel in Somalia

The number of people killed in an attack by jihadist militants on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu has risen to 13, a security commander said today.

World • 20 Aug 22

A severely malnourished two-year-old girl is fed via a tube in Banadir Maternity and Children Hospital in Mogadishu

350,000 Somalian children at risk of death from hunger

The United Nations has predicted that 350,000 children in Somalia could die from hunger by the end of the summer.

World • 14 Jun 22

The UN says nearly half the population of Somalia are going hungry

UN says 'race against time' to avoid famine in Somalia

The United Nations has warned of a race against time to prevent famine in Somalia, with more than 200,000 people on the brink of starvation amid a record-breaking drought.

World • 06 Jun 22

Somalia has been hardest hit as the Horn of Africa region grapples with its worst drought in decades

Hunger crisis threatens Somalia's young children: UN

Severe drought risks pushing nearly half of Somali children under five into acute malnutrition this year, with hundreds of thousands needing life-saving treatment, the UN warned today, calling for urgent action.

World • 15 Feb 22

Swarms can travel up to 150 km a day and contain between 40-80 million locusts per square kilometre

African nations racing to control locust swarms

Countries in east Africa are racing against time to prevent new swarms of locusts wreaking havoc with crops and livelihoods after the worst infestation in generations.

News Lens • 27 Feb 20

A farmer wades through a swarm of locusts on land near Nairobi in Kenya last week

Somalia declares emergency over locust infestation

Somalia has declared a locust infestation sweeping the Horn of Africa to be a national emergency, as insects devastate food supplies in one of the poorest and most vulnerable regions in the world.

World • 02 Feb 20

The blast left the wreckage of surrounding vehicles at the busy checkpoint and crossroads

Al-Shabaab militants claim huge Mogadishu bomb attack

Al-Shabaab Islamist militants have claimed responsibility for last Saturday's massive car bomb in the Somali capital Mogadishu that killed 81 people, including two Turkish citizens.

World • 31 Dec 19

Security officers gather at the scene of the explosion near a check point in Mogadishu

Massive car bomb kills at least 76 in Somalia

A massive car bomb has exploded in a busy area of Mogadishu, killing at least 76, many of them university students, officials said.

World • 29 Dec 19

British and US citizens killed in Somalian hotel attack

Kenyans, Americans, a Briton and Tanzanians were among 26 people killed when Islamist gunmen stormed a hotel in the Somali port city of Kismayo, officials have said. The attack was the deadliest in the city since insurgents were driven out in 2012.

News • 13 Jul 19

The car bomb exploded in a busy part of Mogadishu

Eleven dead in car bomb attack in Mogadishu

Elevan people have been killed and 10 others injured after a car bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Somalia's capital.

World • 04 Feb 19

A spokesman from the UK's Foreign Office said the public money must be recouped

UK forced marriage victims charged repatriation costs

Britain is charging young women rescued from forced marriages abroad for the cost of their repatriation, a newspaper reported today.

UK • 02 Jan 19

Nicholas Haysom is a South African lawyer and experienced diplomat

Top United Nations envoy ordered to leave Somalia

Somalia's government has ordered the leading United Nations envoy to the country to leave, accusing him of "deliberately interfering with the country's sovereignty."

World • 02 Jan 19

Residents walk at the scene in Mogadishu

At least 29 dead in Mogadishu hotel attack

At least 29 people have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu after a near 12-hour siege, police have said.

News • 29 Oct 17

Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attacks today

Two bombs kill at least 17 people in Somali capital

Two car bombs killed at least 17 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu today, police said, two weeks after a huge truck bomb killed hundreds of civilians in the city.

World • 28 Oct 17

The figures mark a sharp increase in the death toll

Death toll after Somalia truck bomb increases to 358

Somalia's deadliest ever attack, a truck bomb in the capital Mogadishu on 14 October, has now killed 358 people with 228 more injured, the government said.

News • 21 Oct 17

The first explosion destroyed several buildings and set dozens of vehicles on fire

At least 22 people killed in two Somalia bombings

Two car bombs in separate parts of Somalia's capital Mogadishu killed at least 22 people today and injured several others, police said.

World • 14 Oct 17

Police have said the death toll may rise, as many of those injured are in a serious condition

Car bomb in Somalia leaves at least 5 dead, 10 injured

A car bomb explosion in Somalia has killed at least five people and wounded at least ten others, with the death toll likely to rise according to police.

News • 31 Jul 17

The UN says more than six million people are in need of urgent help in Somalia alone

Calls for improved response to drought in east Africa

There have been calls for the international community to step up its response to the ongoing drought in east Africa.

News • 22 Jun 17

A woman and child at a camp for displaced people in the Kaxda district, on the outskirts of Mogadishu

Aid agencies warn east Africa on the brink of famine

Aid agencies have warned that years of drought and conflict have left eastern Africa on the brink of famine, with 16 million people facing the threat of starvation.

World • 11 May 17

UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said without collective and coordinated global efforts, "people will simply starve to death"

20 million people facing famine, warns UN

UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council the world was facing the "largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations" with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine across four countries.

World • 11 Mar 17