Somalia famine: PM Ali sets up aid protection force
By Mary Harper
BBC News

Somalia's prime minister has announced the creation of a special force to protect convoys delivering aid to people affected by drought and famine.

Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said the force would comprise 300 trained men, helped by AU peacekeepers who are currently providing security ( Read more... )

1. Nuclear and heavy metal dumping, causing sickness in coastal populations
2. Looting and overexploitation of seafood/marine life
3. No intervention by local government (well, nonexistent government)

Links so you can read more:
From "Africa is a Country" : K'naan on the truth about Somali pirates (video);  What the media’s not telling us about Somali pirates
( Read more... )

1. Militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta region have kidnapped a Scottish oil worker and killed his police guard.

[Take a look at the site for Sweet Crude, a film that discusses the other side of Niger Delta militancy.  MEND tried non-violent opposition for years but Shell is still trying to force residents off their land.]

Also this: 
Nigeria's President ( Read more... )

[I suspect that this is true in places outside of Mogadishu, including eastern DR Congo, particularly considering the fact that internally displaced and refugees continue have to shuffle around at the whim of armed forces' movements and have no time to settle down, earn money, or grow crops.]

SOMALIA: "Too poor to escape the fighting"

NAIROBI, 6 ( Read more... )

What. The. F***.

Somalis shot as they hand out aid
Gunmen in Somalia have shot dead three elders distributing aid in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

The ( Read more... )

[We know what the UN thinks - I'd really like to know what the gunmen are thinking about.  Seriously.  How does this further their cause?]

SOMALIA: Attacks on aid workers "intolerable" - top UN official

NAIROBI, 15 July 2008 (IRIN) - The UN has expressed grave concern over the rapidly deteriorating security situation for humanitarian workers in ( Read more... )

Dear
( Read more... )

Yes Bobby?

So that they can start sending East African Islamists to Guantanamo Bay!

Just a quick post to point you to Najum Mushtaq's analysis of future activities in Somalia, thanks to ( Read more... )

 which I have conveniently cut and bolded for you.
Somalis: U.S. strike kills suspect in '98 embassy bombings

KISMAYO, Somalia (CNN) -- A U.S.-led airstrike in Somalia has killed the suspected orchestrator of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, Somali officials said Wednesday.

However, U.S. officials would not confirm that al Qaeda's ( Read more... )