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...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - An international anti-piracy task force has transferred 11 suspected pirates detained on 28 March, 2011 to Seychelles for possible prosecution, the task force said in a statement on Saturday.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Security agents with Somalia’s Interim Transitional Government arrested the director and news editor of Radio Shabelle on Sunday after the independent station aired a report, saying the president was unable to visit areas recently captured by government and AU forces due to security concerns, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council has exempted the work of humanitarian agencies operating in Somalia from a resolution that obliges member states to impose financial sanctions on groups and individuals who obstruct efforts to restore peace and stability in the Horn of Africa country. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council has called on UN member states to ``urgently'' provide needed equipment to the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday it had started an emergency distribution of food aid to an additional 50,000 people in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in response to the severe shortages caused by the prevailing drought.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN on Friday said that fighting between forces of Somalia’s transitional government and insurgents has spread to areas near the Kenyan border of Mandera, forcing some 5,500 residents to flee their homes.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A three-day conference seeking peace in war-ravaged Somalia ended in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, Wednesday with a call on the Somalia Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) to engage in more outreach targeted at specific groups. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – France has evacuated 13 peacekeepers of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who were injured during fighting in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, to Djibouti. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) – Burundi said on Tuesday it had no intention of immediately withdrawing its 3,600 soldiers from the African Peacekeeping Force in Somalia (AMISOM), despite a bloody attack against its contingent in Mogadishu. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – A three-day conference of the African Union (AU) and African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) opened in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on Monday with a call for peace in the war-ravaged country. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Six Burundian soldiers were killed and a dozen others wounded in clashes which started Sunday between forces of the African peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Islamist insurgents of Al Shabaab, according to an official statement issued Friday in Bujumbura. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN and its African partners have adopted a joint strategy designed to help the troubled interim government in Somalia manage the transitional period. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) said Tuesday it was deeply worried about the increasing casualties of journalists in war-ravaged Somalia, after stray bullets fired by an armed rebel group wounded two more at a press conference in Mogadishu on Monday afternoon. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The United Nations (UN) has expressed concern over the rising insecurity in Somalia, saying it would worsen the humanitarian crisis created by the ongoing drought in the region. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The UN Special Envoy in Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, said Friday the decision by Somali parliamentarians to extend their mandate by three more years was ‘disappointing,’ and was done in haste, excluding all major players. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - A top-level joint UN-African Union (AU) task force has agreed to form a joint commission to coordinate military strategies in Somalia and work alongside the country’s interim government. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - African leaders have approved the formation of a Standby Force for the Indian Ocean, to step up the fight against piracy along the coast of Somalia, which is now threatening the movement of international shipping liners there. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union (AU) intends to increase its peacekeeping force in Somalia to 20,000, while awaiting the response of the UN Security Council on the request for enhancing the force's mandate from protection to security level, AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping said here Saturday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has come up with a roadmap outlining priority tasks it has to accomplish towards the end of the transition period, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Augustine P. Mahiga, has announced. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN and the African Union (AU) will hold high-level talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to review efforts to achieve peace, security and reconciliation in strife-torn Somalia, which has suffered two decades of conflict and humanitarian challenges.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A Mongolian ship with a crew of 24 Vietnamese seafarers has become the latest casualty to the emboldened Somali pirates who have now extended their activities from the Indian Ocean coastline to the Red Sea.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A UN report has called for international financial and other support to help the UN-backed African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM) regain full control of Mogadishu, the war-torn country’s embattled capital, from Al-Shabaab and other Islamist groups.Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Security Council has called for a 50 per cent increase for the UN-backed African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia, which has been trying to bring stability to a country torn apart by 20 years of factional fighting. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – An operation by the European Union, "Operation Atlanta", to fight maritime piracy in the Indian Ocean, has escorted 90 vessels belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) and 75 ships of the African Union Military Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), according to a provisional assessment made by the programme and made public in Brussels. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- Authorities in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntla nd region have released Horseed Media radio director Abdifitah Jama Mire, after serving 86 days out of h is six-year jail sentence. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- The new Somal Prime Minister, Mohammed Abdullah i Mohammed, has said his government is committed to the eradication of child sol d iering in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- African Union Commission Chairperson Jean Ping ha s hailed the endorsement of Somali Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed by the country's parliament and urged the MPs to equally endorse the soon-to-be constituted government. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sa id that the number of civilians wounded in the conflict in Somalia has gone up 7 2 per cent for women and children compared with 2009 levels. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN is making efforts to nurture the development of Sta te institutions and restore stability in Somalia, its Secretary-General, Ban Ki- m oon, told the Security Council on Thursday. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Soma lia, Augustine Mahiga, Friday welcomed the appointment of a new Prime Minister i n the war-wracked African nation. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the Afric an Union on Friday announced here that more troops would be deployed to Somalia i n few weeks, while the 20,000 maximum troops for Somalia peacekeeping, proposed b y IGAD, has been authorized as official AU target. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Fifteen African Foreign Ministers, under the aegi s of the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC), gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Friday for talks on the strengthening the man date of the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), PANA reported. Full text...

Sirte- Libya (PANA) -- The extraordinary Arab summit which rounded off here Satur day has expressed support for efforts by Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to ensure national re conciliation in the country within the context of the the Djibouti Agreement on Reconciliation. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Buoyed by the recent successes recorded by the African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM), African ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs are to meet on 15 October in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, to discuss strengthening of the force's mandate. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- A Tanzanian navy spokesman has confirmed the ar rest of one Somali pirate following a spate of terrorizing raids on a foreign oi l exploration company off the southern coast of the country. Full text...

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania (PANA) -- A Tanzanian navy spokesman has confirmed the ar rest of one Somali pirate following a spate of terrorizing raids on a foreign oi l exploration company off the southern coast of the country. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has instructed his special envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, to work jointly with the African Union (AU) and Somalia’s neighbouring countries to facilitate a UN takeover of the peacekeeping operation there, the envoy said Monday. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- Somalia's President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is striving to restore state institutions and provide services to the people despite the violence perpetrated by insurgents. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- East Africa's leading security grouping, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has urged the UN Security Council to approve a peacekeeping force of 20,000 for war-torn Somalia. Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The international community's failure to take timely action against extremism in Somalia is to blame for the intensified acts of piracy, terrorism and the trafficking in light arms, President Mwai Kibaki warned on Sunday. Full text...

New York- US (PANA) -- Regional leaders and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on T hursday urged Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials in Somalia to end their differences and deliver basic services t o the people. Full text...

New York- United States (PANA) -- Angola can contribute to the training of Somali soldiers within the framework of efforts made the African Union (AU) to stabilize the situation in the troubled country, according to the Angolan Secretary of State for Foreign Relations, George Chicoty. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- The African Union (AU) Tuesday reacted to the dec ision of Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke to quit earlier in the day, by asking t he government to build stronger unity within its ranks. Full text...

Addis Ababa- Ethiopia (PANA) -- Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmake qu it Tuesday, citing the mounting insecurity in his country, as the world called on Somali insurgents to declare a temporary ceasefire in honour of the International Day of Peace, marked globall y on Tuesday (21Sept). Full text...

Nairobi- Kenya (PANA) -- The African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has grown from 6,300 troops to 7,200 troops after an additional battalion from Uganda joined the force, an African Union (AU) envoy disclosed here Friday. Full text...