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  The aircraft carrier Nimitz and its carrier strike group are providing operational and close-air support off the coast of Somalia as part of Joint Task Force-Quartz and Operation Octave Quartz as U.S. troops are relocated from Somalia to other areas of Africa. Embarked on the Nimitz is Carrier Air Wing 17, which AFRICOM said hosts more than 80 combat aircraft. Likewise, guided-missile cruisers Princeton and Philippine Sea, along with guided missile destroyer Sterett, also are supporting the Nimitz. “The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group brings incredible capability and allows us to maintain pressure against regional threats throughout Operation Octave Quartz,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Dagvin Anderson, Joint Task Force-Quarts commander, said in a news release. The command stood up Joint Task Force-Quartz in December to oversee Operation Octave Quartz, which is spearheading the relocation of hundreds of U.S. troops in Somalia. USNI News was the first to report this month that the Nimitz ...

  In the latest blow to financial security in the Horn of Africa region just to the east of Taiwan’s diplomatic ally in the region, Somaliland, and in what appears to be a blow to the Puntland Government’s policy to enforce the use of the Somali shilling, businesses in the administrative capital of Puntland have rejected the Somali shilling for transactions. Two weeks ago a Puntland Government committee tasked with reining in currency depreciation issued instructions on the mandatory use of the Puntland-printed Somali shilling. The Committee urged citizens to report any businesses that insisted on the sole use of US dollars for transactions. Disadvantaged people and labourers, who get paid in Somali shilling, use the Somali shilling to buy food and vegetables. “Early in the morning I tried to buy bread and have a cup of tea at a cafeteria here in Garowe but the barista asked me beforehand if I had dollars to pay with” a young man told the Puntland Post. “(The) Puntland Government’s...

  There is a growing concern that the tensions between Kenya and Somalia may erupt into fighting, due to a military buildup along the two countries' borders. The Somali federal government has sent troops to the border town of Beled-Hawo, while forces from Somalia's Jubaland region, which enjoys a good relationship with Kenya, are stationed in the nearby Kenyan town of Madera. Mohamed Maaalim Mahamud is the Mandera County senator. He said his people should not bear the brunt of the bad diplomatic relations between the two countries. 'We don't want a situation where these two forces fight and our people's lives are in danger,' Mohamud said. 'We have now Kenya and Somalia relations apparently is not good for the last two days but this should not be borne to Mandera people.' Hundreds of fighters allied to Jubaland Interior Minister Abdirashid Janan have been stationed in Madera for months. Last March, these forces launched a cross-border attack in Beled Hawo...

  Somalia's break-away region of Somaliland has cancelled its first women's tournament claiming it was un -Islamic and was violated the ethical aspects of the religion. The region's director of sports at the ministry of youths and sports Abdirashid Aidid told Reuters that the move was arrived at following public outcry that the tournament fell out of the Islamic values. "We cancelled it because it is not in line with Islamic values and norms," Aidid told a news conference. "After public anger, including from the sheikhs, we agreed to suspend it. Everyone saw our women playing during the training sessions on TV and social media platforms. We don't want that at all." The nullification has sparked outrage among women's rights groups. The training sessions were initially broadcasted and upon viewing by the public, some religious leaders came out to condemn the federation. This later lead to the cancelation of the seven-day tournament that was to feat...

  Somalia agreed to de-escalate tensions with neighboring Kenya during a conference Monday in Djibouti.  Somalia said the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) put pressure on the country to resolve its diplomatic tiff with Kenya during the 38th Extraordinary Assembly of IGAD Heads of State and Government. IGAD, which consists of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, with Eritrea being an inactive member, devoted the conference to solving regional problems, with a focus on the situation in Ethiopia and the diplomatic tensions between Kenya and Somalia. “IGAD heads put a lot of pressure on us to resolve the diplomatic tiff within the bloc. This is the first step to de-escalate tensions. Somalia accepted but made it a condition that a commission be set up to look into our complaints, including arming militia inside Kenya,” Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdirizak was quoted by Garowe news as saying. On Saturday, Somalia accused Kenya of ...

  Three senior Somali military officers, including a commander with an elite American-backed commando force, and several other people died in a suicide attack on Friday that was aimed at the country’s prime minister, the Somali police said. The Islamist extremist group Al Shabab claimed responsibility for the blast, which happened in Galkayo, in central Somalia, where Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble was scheduled to attend a political rally at a football stadium. Mr. Roble, who only came to office a few months ago, was on his way to the stadium when a suicide bomber exploded his vest before a line of waiting dignitaries, killing at least 10 people, including the military officers and several local leaders, said Ismael Mukhtaar Omar, a Somali government spokesman. Those killed included Gen. Abdiaziz Abdullahi Qoje, commander of the 21st division of the Somali Army, and Maj. Mukhtar Abdi Aden, the regional commander of Danab, an elite U.S.-trained force that has been a central f...

  Hundreds of people Tuesday marched through Somalia's capital Mogadishu to denounce president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmaajo. They accuse him of delaying the country's legislative elections to aid his re-election bid in 2021. There were reports of clashes between gunmen protecting the protestors and security forces.  Disagreements over the composition of the electoral board prevented the vote from taking place this month.  The development came as Somalia severed ties with southern neighbor Kenya on Tuesday

  Somalia’s government cut diplomatic ties with neighboring Kenya, citing interference in its internal affairs. The announcement was made a day after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he’s holding talks with the leader of a breakaway region of northern Somalia that’s lobbying for international recognition. The rift in relations comes as the two nations prepare to square-off at an international tribunal in March over a maritime-border dispute. Somalia “has decided to cut diplomatic relations with Kenya,” Information Minister Osman Abukar Dube said on state-run SNTV. The government ordered Kenyan diplomats to leave the Somali capital, Mogadishu, within seven days. Kenya’s government reciprocated by asking Somali diplomats to leave Nairobi, Dube said. Diplomatic relations between the two eastern African nations soured last year after Kenya accused Somalia of auctioning four offshore oil blocks in a disputed offshore area, an allegation Somalia denied. In October 2019, Somalia summo...

  A Maryland attorney has been indicted on charges he engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $12.5 million in Somali government assets from financial institutions and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by a law firm that kept more than $3 million of the money. A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Jeremy Wyeth Schulman, 45, of Bethesda, on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. Schulman and others tried to fraudulently obtain control over hundreds of millions of dollars in Central Bank of Somalia assets held in bank accounts that had been frozen due to civil war and political instability in the African country, the 11-count indictment says. Schulman presented banks with forged and falsified documents to fraudulently gain control of millions of dollars in Somali government assets between 2010 to 2014, the indictment says. It also says Schulman personally received hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from the l...

  The U.S. military killed eight al-Shabab fighters and wounded two others in airstrikes Thursday in Somalia, Lt. Cmdr. Christina Gibson, U.S. Africa Command spokeswoman, told VOA. “We will continue to apply pressure to the al-Shabab network. They continue to undermine Somali security, and need to be contained and degraded,” Africa Command (AFRICOM) head Gen. Stephen Townsend added in a statement announcing the strikes. The AFRICOM statement said two strikes in the vicinity of Jilib targeted terrorists “who were known to play important roles in producing explosives for al-Shabab, to include vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.” The al-Qaida-affiliated terror group conducts dozens of car bombings across Somalia each year, including against citizens, government and American targets.  According to AFRICOM, al-Shabab has conducted about 45 vehicle-borne bombings in the capital of Mogadishu alone since 2018, collectively resulting in the death of more than 400 people. The Co...

  Kenyan nationals travelling to Somalia will need to obtain visas before arriving in the country, Somalia's immigration and citizenship authority said on Monday. Holders of diplomatic passports must obtain prior approval from Somalia's foreign affairs ministry, the agency's statement said. The directive takes effect on December 13.  The development is the latest in a fast-growing diplomatic spat between the two East African neighbors.  On November 29, President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmaajo recalled his envoy to Nairobi. He also ordered Kenya's envoy to Somalia, Lucas Tumbo, to return to Nairobi. Mogadishu has accused Kenya of undue "interference" in its internal affairs. Kenya has dismissed the accusations as false. At the centre of the dispute is Ahmed Mohamed Islam alias Sheikh Madobe, the dissident governor of Jubbaland state in Somalia. Mogadishu accuses him of reneging on a September agreement to hold senatorial elections this month after being influence...

  President Donald Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of Somalia in the waning days of his presidency triggered dismay on Saturday from some Somalis, who appealed to the incoming US president to reverse the decision. “The US decision to pull troops out of Somalia at this critical stage in the successful fight against al-Shabaab and their global terrorist network is extremely regrettable,” Senator Ayub Ismail Yusuf told Reuters in a statement, referring to the al Qaida-linked al Shabaab insurgency. “US troops have made a huge contribution and had great impact on the training and operational effectiveness of Somali soldiers,” said Yusuf, a member of Somalia’s Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. He tagged US President-elect Joe Biden in a tweet criticising the decision. The Somali government could not immediately be reached for comment early on Saturday to Friday’s decision to withdraw almost all the roughly 700 US troops by 15 January. Somalia’s fragile internationally backed gover...

  Eleven years ago on December 3, a suicide bomber attacked a graduation ceremony at Shamo Hotel, one of Mogadishu’s main hotels. Fourteen medical students, lecturers, and doctors from Banadir University were among 30 people who were killed, more than 50 others injured. Dr. Osman Mohamud Dufle was on the podium when the suicide bomber detonated the bomb. “The explosion occurred right in front of me,” says Dr. Dufle, a physician and a member of the parliament. Before going to the podium, his friend, Higher Education Minister Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Addow, asked if he could speak before him as he was rushing to another event. But the event organizer, Dr. Mohamed Mohamud Biday, intervened and convinced Dr. Addow he will speak next. The bomber detonated the explosion in the space between them. Dufle survived, Addow died. Also killed were Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, Education Minister Ahmed Aden Wayel, and Youth & Sports Minister Suleiman Olad Roble, who succumbed to his injuries few...

  Somalia has ordered the expulsion of Kenya’s ambassador after accusing neighbouring Kenya of interfering in the electoral process in Jubbaland, one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states. Somalia also recalled its ambassador from Nairobi in the latest dispute between the two African countries. “As a result of the Kenyan government’s political interferences in the internal affairs of Somalia, the regional President of Jubbaland has reneged on the election agreement that was reached on the 17th September 2020 in Mogadishu,” the Somali foreign ministry said in a statement on Facebook. The statement did not elaborate on the interference or the agreement the Jubbaland president had reneged on. This is not the first time there has been tension between Mogadishu and Nairobi. Last year, Kenya recalled its ambassador after Mogadishu decided to auction off oil and gas exploration blocks at the centre of a maritime territorial dispute. The two countries restored ties a few months later. K...