New York, US (PANA) - The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, on Saturday welcomed the news that the Islamic insurgent group Al-Shabaab has begun to leave the capital, Mogadishu, and called on the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation's government to cease the opportunity in ensuring aid delivery to civilians in need. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN on Saturday expressed concern about the plight of Somali refugees in camps in south-east Ethiopia following an outbreak of suspected measles and called for urgent action to assist an already vulnerable population. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A staff of a Somali radio station has been killed in the restive Bakara Market in the capital, Mogadishu, media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, has called on all the national associations affiliated to the Confederation to organise a solidarity match to support the Horn of Africa.Full text...

Blantyre, Malawi (PANA) - A South Africa-based NGO, Gift of the Givers, has donated three plane-load of nutritious food stuff to war-torn Somalia as the famine situation spreads in the Horn of Africa. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN on Wednesday declared famine in three more areas in drought-ravaged Somalia, bringing to five the number of regions in the Horn of Africa country where acute malnutrition and starvation have already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, on Wednesday appealed to all Somalis in Diaspora, to work together with their compatriots inside the country, to support the ongoing peace process and alleviate the plight of those suffering from famine. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, on Wednesday welcomed the UN Security Council’s decision to agree to apply sanctions against any individuals or entities that violate children’s rights. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has welcomed the decision by authorities in Puntland, Somalia’s northeastern semi autonomous region, to set free reporter Faysal Mohamed Hassan on Sunday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Ms. Valerie Amos, UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, on Tuesday warned that the famine in Somalia could spread if the international community does not provide the funds required to respond to the hunger crisis, which, she said, had claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Forces of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia Thursday captured strategic positions from Al Shabaab extremists in northeast Mogadishu following highly targeted security operations, the mission announced.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday made an impassioned plea to the international community to mobilise resources to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, where severe drought has plunged communities in the southern region of the country into famine.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Wednesday declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia following the worst drought in decades, and appealed for urgent resources to assist millions of people in desperate need of help. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday it was stepping up relief assistance in Somalia's central and southern parts due to the increasing gravity of the drought situation in the country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio Guterres, on Friday welcomed the decision by Kenya to open a new camp set up to ease congestion in the Dadaab refugee settlement, where an influx of people fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia has swelled the refugee population to nearly 380,000. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, on Friday welcomed Somali parliament’s endorsement of the Kampala Accord, which postponed the country’s presidential elections by a year to allow the Horn of African nation prepare itself for democratic transition. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – France is concerned about the deteriorating food situation in Somalia following a drought after poor rains, the spokesman of the French ministry of foreign affairs, Bernard Valero, said on Tuesday in Paris. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and the visiting German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, Tuesday underscored the need for the international community to support the Kampala Accord and strengthen the capacity of the Transitional Federal Government and AMISOM forces to stabilize Somalia. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday called for urgent international assistance for Somali refugees who are trooping into Ethiopia. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The rate of the influx of Somali refugees into neighbouring countries is three times more than the rate considered emergency level, said Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on Friday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Eritrea has accused Ethiopia and the East African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), of spreading falsehoods about the country’s alleged links with Somali insurgents.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the prison sentence slammed on a reporter of an online news Web site on Saturday in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - An African Union (AU) conference on Somalia will begin in Rwanda Wednesday, according to an official statement issued Tuesday in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - East African leaders have agreed to create a ministerial task force to monitor arms flow to Somali insurgents, while renewing their call on the UN Security Council to immediately impose a no-fly zone there.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Police arrested Faysal Mohamed, a reporter for the Hiiraan Online website, Wednesday morning in the port town of Bossasso in the semi-autonomous republic of Puntland, local journalists told Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - Somali pirate, Abdiwahad Omar Mohammed, found guilty by the Criminal Court of Brussels, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for his part in the capture of the Belgian boat, "The Pompei", by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council on Friday reiterated the need for a comprehensive and inclusive strategy to encourage the restoration of peace and stability in Somalia. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN Special Envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, has welcomed the appointment of a new Prime Minister to replace Mohammed Abdullahi, who resigned recently to pave the way for the formation of another government for the Horn of Africa nation. Full text...

Kampala, Uganda (PANA) - An international security organ overseeing efforts to stabilize Somalia ended a meeting here, calling on the interim government to stop the use of child soldiers and agreed on the need for a set of policies to address the crisis of defecting soldiers. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Gunmen from pro- and anti-government militias raided and shut two radio stations in Somalia in separate attacks on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported quoting local journalists here. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - France has urged the transitional institutions in Somalia to overcome their infighting and demonstrate their credibility by acting responsibly in the service of Somali people.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - UN Special Envoy for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, Thursday welcomed the agreement signed by Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the Speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, in Kampala to end the life of the current government. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Somalia’s rivals Thursday agreed to postpone elections, initially slated before August this year, by another year and will dissolve the current cabinet within days to allow for the creation of a new government.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday expressed concern over what it described as "grave violations of children’s rights that are taking place every day in Somalia.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Heavy fighting on the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, has wounded 735 children under the age of five, one of the highest figures since the start of the year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Two African Union soldiers and three extremists were killed during a foiled suicide bomb attack in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, the AU peacekeeping force (AMISOM), said on Monday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Somalia’s Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) to demonstrate that they are moving the country towards political stability and social-economic development. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The trial of Somali pirate, Omar Mohamed Abdiwahad, opened Wednesday before the correctional court of Brussels, judicial sources told PANA here.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Somali government forces, backed by the Africa Union troops in Mogadishu (AMISOM), have advanced in a rapid offensive to secure more ground from Al Shabab militants in an operation that killed 22 militants and two AMISOM troops. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - A joint meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and its UN counterpart, the Security Council, has called for the holding of an inclusive dialogue in Somalia before the end of August.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council on Thursday reiterated its concern over continuing instability in Somalia and stressed the need for a comprehensive strategy to establish peace and stability in the Horn of Africa country through a consultative process to create broad-based institutions.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN refugee agency said an increasing number of Somali civilians were fleeing their country amid the deteriorating security situation, with 50,000 arriving in neighbouring countries in the first quarter of this year, compared to 23,000 in the same period in 2010. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - Negotiations between the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU) and Somalia, for the extension of the mandate of the EU-led training mission for Somali security forces will resume by the end of this month, a statement issued in Brussels disclosed Tuesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The African Union High Representative for Somalia, former Ghana President Jerry John Rawlings, has urged all parties in the Somali peace process to re-new their commitment and work as a unified front to achieve lasting peace. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Tuesday condemned the use of sailors as human shields following Somali pirates' continued detention of seven crew members of a recently released ship after a ransom had been reportedly paid. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, has urged the country’s leaders to engage in dialogue that will lead to peace, national unity and stability in the troubled Horn of Africa nation. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council on Monday said it would urgently consider the establishment of specialized Somali courts to try suspected pirates both in Somalia and in the region to boost anti-piracy efforts, Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Somali leader Cheihk Sharif Ahmed is in Burundi as a guest of the Burundi President, Pierre Nkurunziza, according to Burundi national radio.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that fighting in southern and central Somalia, between government forces and Al-Shabaab militants, has displaced about 33,000 people in the past six weeks. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The heads of three UN agencies have expressed deep concern over the living conditions of more than 314,000 Somali refugees in Kenya. Full text...