Somalia: News Collection

During this time of heightened debate and crisis over the war on terrorism all over the world, Somalia is one of the battlefields that involves both antagonists forces continously in motion. The new deadly attack in a failed assassination attempt on Somalia's transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, left eleven people killed, with the president's brother and six of the attackers among the dead. This incident is just a small examples of a series of terrorist attacks in the country in the recent years including one of my previous post in this blog. The list of recent terrorist attacks in Somalia can be found at: via Guardian Unlimited.
With the backing of the US and a representative of Christianity, Ethiopia collides against Eritrea, a Muslim country which is trying to impose influence on Somalia and mobilize an uprising of Islam by supporting Islamic forces in nearby countries. These two countries are threatening to rift apart not only Somalia but the East African bloc as a whole. Links: Available on Topix from Reuters.
Nearly 400 people were killed in recent clashes because of the escalation of fighting in Mogadishu despite the presence of the African Union peacekeeping force. In response to this tragedy, some Civil society organisations in Somalia have launched a campaign to help thousands of desperate civilians displaced by the fighting. The volunteer groups, including many business organizations, are driving food, medicines and water to many refugee camps between Mogadishu and Afgoye, south of the capital. These groups believe they have to act quickly as they can not continue to passively wait for the international help from groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Danish Refugee Council and Daryeel Bulsho Guud (a local NGO backed by German agencies). Links: via AllAfrica.com.
Some developments in the conflict include a new cease-fire in Mogadishu and many neutral contact groups on Somalia calling for reconciliation between the transitional government and the Muslim insurgency. Links can be found at: via Australian Broadcasting Corporation and via The Norway Post