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Anisa Ibrahim was six years old when she came to the United States as a Somali refugee in 1993. The family settled in Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington, where the girl and her four siblings got health care at the Harborview Medical Center Pediatric Clinic. Now a pediatrician herself, Ibrahim is medical director of the clinic, overseeing a dozen other doctors whose patients, like hers, include many immigrants. When she got the promotion in September, "it felt like everything that I had been working for had come to fruition and my story had really, really come full circle," Ibrahim, 32, told VOA's Somali Service in a phone interview. "I really thought back [on] everyone and everything that made this moment possible for me." Among those Ibrahim credits is the doctor who treated her in childhood, after her family had moved from a Kenyan refugee camp where they'd sought relief from Somalia's civil war in 1992. She had told her pediat...

Somalia’s ratification of a key convention to protect internally displaced people in Africa is a landmark achievement for the country and the African continent, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said today. The African Union (AU) Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Africa, known as the Kampala Convention, was signed on 26 November 2019 by Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, “Farmaajo”, after being passed with a near-unanimous vote by parliament last week. Somalia is the 30th African Union Member State to ratify the convention since 2009. “The ratification of the Kampala Convention cements the Government’s commitment to the millions of highly vulnerable internally displaced people living in Somalia, and to finding solutions for the issue of displacement,” said UNHCR Somalia Representative, Johann Siffointe. “Today, Somalia serves as a regional model for others to follow, and UNHCR is eager to continue supporting the government...

Children under the age of five are being targeted with polio vaccines, and measles vaccines will be administered to children aged between 6 and 59 months. The campaign also includes a vitamin A supplement for children under 5 to boost their immunity as well as de-worming tablets. Over five days, until November 29, health workers will focus their efforts in the regions of  Benaadir, Galguduud, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and South West State, and on children in districts with high concentrations of internally displaced persons (IDPs).  IDP camps often breed disease, and children living in such sites are also more likely to be living in crowded living conditions, and suffering from malnutrition, and limited access to water and sanitation. Children in nomadic communities are at a higher risk of contracting measles and polio due to the higher mobility of these population groups. So far this year 3,616 suspected measles cases have been reported in Somalia: The virus, which is ...

Almaas Elman, who was to be laid to rest Friday after being killed this week in the country’s capital of  Mogadishu , is the second Somali-Canadian who lost her life this year in pursuit of efforts to rebuild a country wracked by war. Preliminary investigations show she was killed by a stray bullet this week in Mogadishu, the peacekeeping mission in Somalia said Friday, while some family members at her funeral shouted, “We want justice. The statement by the African Union mission said Elman was hit while travelling in a car Wednesday inside a heavily defended base near the international airport where many diplomats and aid workers have offices in the Horn of Africa nation. The AU statement said there was no record of a weapon being fired inside the base at the time Almaas Elman was shot and other stray bullets had been reported previously. It called her death “heart-wrenching and unfortunate.” In July, Hodan Nalayeh, a Somali-Canadian journalist who once lived jus...

A prominent rights activist has been shot dead in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, with security officials suggesting she was hit by a stray bullet. Almaas Elman Ali, who came from a leading family of peace campaigners, was travelling by car inside the heavily fortified airport compound when she was hit on Wednesday. "She was riding in a car along a road inside the airport," AFP news agency quoted Mohamed Omar, a Somali security official, as saying. "A stray bullet hit her, and she died within a few minutes." It was not immediately clear who was responsible for Ali's killing. Brigadier General Zakia Hussein, the deputy commissioner of the Somali Police Force, said investigations into the incident were continuing, the New York Times  reported . "There was not any gunfire in the airport, or in nearby areas before the incident occurred," Omar said. The sprawling airport complex includes embassies and the headquarters of African Unio...

Ciraa Farah Ali was asleep when she heard the flood. It was dark, and the 45-year-old mother of seven was alone with her children in her small home in Beledweyne, central Somalia. She knew the level of the Shabelle River was rising but had little fear that it would burst its banks. Late in October, swollen by unseasonal rains, it did. Ali had no time to gather her belongings and only just managed to escape with her family. “I could not save a single item from my house. The neighbours came to rescue my children when our house was submerged. My youngest girl was washed away but thanks be to God she was rescued later,” she said. Not everyone was as lucky. Nuriya Hassan Ma’ow lost her grandmother, Ruqiya, 75, and her son Mohamud, 11, as the family attempted to flee from the rising flood water in Beledweyne, 200 miles from the capital, Mogadishu. Both were drowned. “I was not at home. Everybody ran away. We are in disaster and mourning. I don’t know what to do. God will help...

A new United Nations report says it has corroborated evidence of five attacks allegedly carried out by Kenya’s military on communication masts belonging to neighboring Somalia’s largest telecom provider. One attack killed two civilians in 2018. The report by the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Somalia says destroying telecommunication masts may prevent al-Shabab extremists from triggering explosives using mobile telephone signals. The report, made public this week, says Kenya’s military denied involvement in the attacks. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Hormuud Telecom Somalia says the attacks violate international law. The company asserts that its communications masts have been attacked 10 times by Kenya’s military over the past two years. The attacks have caused at least $5 million in infrastructure while destabilizing communities, undermining Somalia’s economic development and impeding the coordination of human...

Somalia's National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) has announced plans to register millions of Somalis to participate in what would be the country's first popular elections in more than a half-century. NIEC Chairperson Halima Ismail Ibrahim told VOA that the commission would start registering voters in March 2020 in a campaign that could last months to reach voters in Mogadishu and the regions. She said hundreds of registration centers would be open to biometrically register voters. "At minimum, we want to register 2 [million] to 3 million Somalis," Ibrahim said in an interview this week. The Somali population is estimated at 12 million, but realistically only half can be reached and registered, according to Ibrahim. "Many people are living outside the country. Many are in refugee camps. Somaliland is separate. There are areas where [militant group] al-Shabab is present where significant number of people live," she said. Re...

Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Issa Awad details the meeting held in Nairobi today by the President of the Farmajo and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Awad in an interview with VOA maintained that it was agreed that the two countries would have good relations, and that the ICJ court case had no effect. Jamal Ahmed Osman interviewed the minister.

Authorities have not yet said how many people died in the flooding last month, Somalia’s worst in recent history and the latest reminder that the Horn of Africa nation must prepare for the extremes expected to come with a changing climate. At least 10 people went missing when their boat capsized after the Shabelle river burst its banks. Local officials have said at least 22 people in all are presumed dead and the toll could rise. “This is a catastrophic situation,” Mayor Safiyo Sheikh Ali said. President Mohamed Abdullahi  Mohamed, who visited the town and waded through submerged areas, called the devastation “beyond our capacity” and pleaded for more help from aid groups. With no proper emergency response plan for natural disasters, local rescuers used rickety wooden dhows to reach trapped people while helicopters provided by the United Nations plucked people from rooftops. African Union and  Somali forces have joined the rescue operations and the Somali go...

Al-Shabab extremists in Somalia remain "a potent threat" to regional peace and are now manufacturing home-made explosives, expanding their revenue sources and infiltrating government institutions, U.N. experts say. The panel of experts' report to the Security Council, circulated Tuesday, said a significant escalation of U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Shabab militants and leaders has kept the al-Qaida-linked group "off-balance" but has had "little effect on its ability to launch regular asymmetric attacks throughout Somalia."  The report said al-Shabab's assault on Jan. 15 on a commercial business complex in Nairobi, Kenya, containing the DusitD2 Hotel "illustrates the danger the group continues to pose to regional peace and security." That attack killed 21 people as well as four gunmen. The experts also cited "an unprecedented number" of attacks across the Kenya-Somalia border by al-Shabab in June and July, "po...

At least 200,000 children are among more than half a million people affected by flooding in  Somalia , the  United Nations  children agency said, calling for decisive action to help those at risk of malnutrition and disease outbreak.  In a statement on  Tuesday , UNICEF said thousands of families are living in makeshift camps or in the open and are in dire need of clean water, sanitation, safe shelter, health and food supplies.  The UN humanitarian agency said on Wednesday heavy rains have affected 547,000 people in Somalia and displaced 370,000 people. "Children are very vulnerable in times of emergency," said UNICEF Somalia Representative Werner Schultink. "If we do not act decisively, the impact of these floods will be felt in Somalia long after the water levels recede," he added. The rains and flooding have destroyed infrastructure and livelihoods in the Horn of  Africa  nation, according to the UN, which on Monday began deli...

Madaxweynaya dowladda Federaalka ah ee Soomaaliya Maxamee C/llaahi Farmaajo ayaa goor dhow u ambabixi doona magaalada Nairobi ee dalka Kenya halkaasoo uga qeyb galayo Shirka caalami oo ay soo qaban qaabisay Qaramada Midoobey, waxaana ka socota magaalada Nairobi qaban qaabo lagu soo dhoweynayo. Shirkan oo uu hoggaaminaayo Sanduuqa Qaramada Midoobey ee Horumarinta Dadka (UNFPA) ayaa lagu jaangooynayaa qorsheyaasha loo dhan yahay ee dhinacyada horumarka iyo halbeegga sanadlaha ah ee heer qaaradeed iyo heer caalami ee hiigsiyada xasilloonida iyo horumarka. Wafdiga Madaxweynaha waxaa hordhac u sii ahaa diblumaasiyiin iyo khubaro ka tirsan Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya kuwaas oo la sii qaabeeyey dhiggooda dalalka ka qayb-gelaya shirweynahan qorsheyaasha lagu falanqaynayo, iyagoo gudbiyey qodobbada hortabinta u leh shacabka iyo Dowladda Soomaaliyeed. Sida wararku sheegayaan shirka uu ka qeyb geli doono Madaxweyne Farmaajo ayaa waxaa wehliya kulan gaar ah oo uu la qaadan doono Ma...

The United States Embassy in Mogadishu,  Somalia , has reopened after being closed for 28 years, officials said Wednesday. "The reestablishment of Embassy Mogadishu is another step forward in the resumption of regular U.S.-Somali relations, symbolizing the strengthening of U.S.-Somalia relations and advancement of stability, development and peace for Somalia and the region," the embassy said in a  statement . The embassy closed on Jan. 5, 1991, after Somalia became engulfed in a civil war and the regime of Siad Barre was overthrown. The United States reestablished a permanent diplomatic presence in Mogadishu back in December, operated out of Nairobi, Kenya. “Today we reaffirm the relations between the American people and the Somali people, and our two nations," Ambassador Donald Yamamoto said. "It is a significant and historic day that reflects Somalia’s progress in recent years, and another step forward in regularizing U.S. diplomatic enga...

When 23-year-old Safiya Khalid was elected to the city council of Lewiston, Maine last week she nabbed a collection of “firsts” – youngest person ever elected to the council, and its first Somali-American – but the race for her had always been about making sure everyone in the city felt the sense of community her family experienced when they moved there from war-torn Somalia. “What I received here in Lewiston, my family and I in 2006, I want to open that to all people in Lewiston and to encourage young people to live and work in Lewiston and that means building a vibrant community for all of us,” Khalid was one of dozens to secure a historical election seat in local and statewide elections on Tuesday. Boston diversified its city council, Kentucky elected its first black attorney general, Virginia elected its first Muslim state senator, and in Tucson, Arizona, the city elected its first Latina mayor. This deepening crack in the old traditions of political power arrived four mont...

The delegation later arrived in Beledweyne, the capital of Hiran region. Members of the delegation included MP Abdikarim Omar Mohamed who told the BBC that their trip was politicized because the prime minister who was in Beledweyne today. Meanwhile, in a press conference held in Mogadishu, Hiranbele regional president Mohamed Abdi Ware said no one was prevented from traveling, but the purpose of the airport was when the rains fell. Ware said there was no reason to stop the delegation of former presidents, and there was no news that the radar had been fired, but he said the pilot made a false alarm and fired the radar, and did not respond. , without guidance he landed on the field. He said they would face a deal with the company that landed at Beledweyne airport today, accusing it of being irresponsible and taking a risk, he said. "The decision of the airline does not belong to the airline, it is the responsibility of the authorities to report to the airline that it has ...

Two Somali-American women who won local elections this week are calling for full participation of women in Somalia's politics, peace and development efforts. Voters on Tuesday elected Nadia Mohamed for an at-large seat in St. Louis Park, a western suburb of Minneapolis, in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, and chose Safiya Khalid to represent a ward in Lewiston, in the northeastern state of Maine. Both ran as Democrats and will be the first Somali immigrants on their respective councils. Both also are 23 and are black, hijab-wearing Muslims. The two new city council members are urging women in Somalia to follow their path. “I was elected with respect being a woman, a young, a Muslim, and hijab-wearing. So that, I would like to see Somalia doing the same because a woman can do sometimes better what a man can do,” said Mohamed. “I would like to send a call to Somali women in Somalia, saying that they can do whatever they want, regardless of the challenges they ...