Somalia

NOVANEWS Drone attack in southern Somalia on Sunday shows no end in sight for borderless 'war on terror' - Jon Queally A suspected U.S. drone bombed an area in southern Somalia on Sunday, reportedly killing five people, at least two of whom are said to be members of the al-Shabab militia. Though the number was not confirmed, it remains unclear who the other three people killed in the attack may have been. Reports from the scene indicate that a car or envoy was targeted. The latest apparent drone attack in Somalia follows on several recent U.S. bombings in Yemen, including one earlier this month in which a farmer was killed and another in December that hit a wedding convoy that left at least a dozen civilians dead. All part of the U.S. global war on terror that began in 2001, attacks li...

NOVANEWS LALKARONLINE A comment on the September attack upon Nairobi's prestigious Westgate Mall September witnessed a bloody attack by between ten and fifteen Al-Shabaab militants upon Nairobi's prestigious Westgate Mall, a partly Israeli-owned complex which offers the country's elite and well-heeled tourists the "supreme experience of shopping". The rescue operation stretched over several days and concluded with a death toll estimated at over seventy, with many wounded and unaccounted for. The attack appeared to have been meticulously planned, with some reports suggesting that machine guns had earlier been smuggled into the shopping centre and stashed in a shop rented for that purpose. By contrast, the response of state security was marked by incompetence and corruption, with different ...

NOVANEWS People are in dire need of food, clean drinking water and shelter Over 100,000 people devastated by the recent cyclone in Somalia are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, aid agencies report. The tropical cyclone that hit the Puntland region of Somalia earlier this month resulted in the death of at least 80 people, mostly children and the elderly, and is estimated to have killed more than 100,000 livestock. Pastoralist communities appear the hardest hit. Information from affected communities was initially limited due to the remoteness of the worst affected areas. Communication was halted from the lack of electricity to charge mobile phones, which was the only method of communication. Initial assessments indicate there is an urgent need to provide food, clean drinking water...

NOVANEWS by LOUIS PROYECT In 2013 there were no less than two films about Somali hijackings of merchant ships. “Captain Phillips”, the better-known one, is now playing at Cineplexes everywhere. The other is a Danish film called “A Hijacking” that played at art houses in June. In both the Somali pirates are like zombies in a George Romero film—symbols of unrelenting violence who crave money rather than flesh. I saw the two to stay abreast with the kind of films being considered by my colleagues in New York Film Critics Online for the December 2013 awards meeting, but with the added incentive of getting up to speed on what has been happening in Somalia. This was the push I needed to do a little research on the country’s recent history even if it meant being forced to look at Tom Hanks’s ear...

NOVANEWS A comment on the September attack upon Nairobi's prestigious Westgate Mall September witnessed a bloody attack by between ten and fifteen Al-Shabaab militants upon Nairobi's prestigious Westgate Mall, a partly Israeli-owned complex which offers the country's elite and well-heeled tourists the "supreme experience of shopping". The rescue operation stretched over several days and concluded with a death toll estimated at over seventy, with many wounded and unaccounted for. The attack appeared to have been meticulously planned, with some reports suggesting that machine guns had earlier been smuggled into the shopping centre and stashed in a shop rented for that purpose. By contrast, the response of state security was marked by incompetence and corruption, with different spokesmen una...

NOVANEWS  ERDOGAN:WITH YOU ARMING REBELS, AND WE (TURKEY) FUNDING, TRAINING THE PUPPET ARMY WE HAVE CORNED THE ARMS TRADE IN SOMALIA, QATARI EMIR:AND ONCE WE TOPPLE ASSAD WE REPLICATE SCENARIO IN SYRIA,SWITCHING ROLES The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), the first think tank in Mogadishu which was launched on 15 January, states it is an independent nonpartisan research centre. However, a number of the institute’s sponsors and officials have links with the Islamic group Ahlu Sheikh which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar. Moreover, one of Ahlu Sheikh’s eminent members is the former President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The director of HIPS, Abdi Aynte, a former journalist with the BBC, Voice of America and Al J...