The U.N. declared famine in two parts of southern Somalia last July and extended the famine warning in September to six out of eight regions in the anarchic Horn of Africa country.

The U.N. said initially 750,000 Somalis faced imminent starvation and lowered this to 250,000 by November. Six months after famine was declared, 4 million Somalis were in need of aid and the U.N. said the number now stood at 2.34 million.

“The gains are fragile and will be reversed without continued support,” said Mark Bowden, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.

“There are 1.7 million people in southern Somalia still in crisis. Millions of people still need food, clean water, shelter and other assistance to survive and the situation is expected to deteriorate in May,” he said in a statement.

While aid deliveries to some 180,000 people in camps in the capital Mogadishu have improved the situation there, fighting in southern and central Somalia is still hampering food deliveries to the worst-hit areas.

Government forces have been fighting Islamist rebels for the past five years, while Kenyan and Ethiopian forces both moved into the country last year to help fight the al Qaeda-linked militants al Shabaab.

The fighting, combined with attacks on aid workers and a history of aid being manipulated for political gain, means Somalia is one of the toughest countries for relief agencies to operate in.

The U.N. said the latest harvest in Somalia was double the average of the past 17 years, and this had lowered food prices, though mortality rates in southern Somalia were still among the highest in the world.

Al Shabaab expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday, one of the few international aid agencies delivering food aid to areas under rebel control, accusing it of providing out-of-date food to women and children.

The ICRC said it regretted the decision as it halted a programme that had given food to more than 1.2 million people between June and December 2011. The ICRC said 6 percent of the food provided had deteriorated and was withdrawn, or destroyed by al Shabaab.

“The crisis is not over,” said Jose Graziano da Silva, director general of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. “It can only be resolved with a combination of rains and continued, coordinated, long-term actions that build up the resilience of the population and link relief with development.”

Reuters.

Un commandant shebab, qui a revendiqué l’attentat auprès de l’AFP au nom des insurgés islamistes, a assuré qu’il avait fait “de nombreux morts”, mais aucun bilan n’a pu être confirmé immédiatement de source indépendante.

“Une grosse explosion a complètement secoué la ville, cela s’est produit sur la base où sont stationnées les forces éthiopiennes et les premiers renseignements indiquent qu’il s’agit d’une attaque suicide”, a indiqué pour sa part à l’AFP Mohamed Osman, un responsable local de la sécurité.

L’assaillant “a été tué par les gardes de la sécurité avant qu’il n’atteigne la porte et il a fait sauter le véhicule”, a poursuivi Mohamed Osman, indiquant qu’une enquête était en cours sur cette attaque menée contre l’armée éthiopienne, installée dans la ville de Beledeweyne depuis début janvier.

“Un des combattants moudjahidine a mené une mission suicide et a détruit la plus grande base de soldats chrétiens venant d’Ethiopie”, a affirmé de son côté un commandant shebab, demandant à ne pas être nommé.

Selon des témoins, le kamikaze était au volant d’un minibus rempli d’explosifs.

“C’était une très forte explosion qui a secoué les bâtiments dans la plus grande partie de la ville. J’ai vu des flammes et de la fumée dans le ciel mais personne ne peut s’approcher de la zone maintenant car les troupes éthiopiennes ont bloqué la zone”, a indiqué Abdulkadir Isak, un habitant.

L’armée éthiopienne a lancé en novembre une offensive dans l’ouest du pays contre les rebelles shebab, qui contrôlent de grandes parties du sud et du centre de la Somalie, mais qui font face à une pression militaire accrue depuis l’entrée en Somalie des troupes kényanes puis éthiopiennes.

Jeune Afrique.

Scores of gunmen threw grenades and other explosives as they stormed the police camp in Gerille, a town near the porous frontier, Regional Commissioner Wenslas Ongayo said. Several people were missing after the evening raid, and believed kidnapped.

“They killed three administration police officers, a police reservist and two civil servants working with the registration department,” Ongayo told Reuters by telephone.

A local councillor and an education official said that a primary school teacher had also been killed in the crossfire.

Kenya has beefed up security along its border with Somalia since it sent troops into the anarchic Horn of Africa country in October to crush the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents.

Wednesday night’s attack highlights the difficulties they face securing the frontier, days after Britain warned Islamist militants were in the final stages of preparing an attack on sites in Kenya frequented by expatriates and tourists.

A police spokesman could not confirm the death toll and said details of the attack in a remote, arid corner of the country were still emerging.

Explosions and gunfire rang out across Gerille’s dusty wastelands, Ongayo said, before the assailants seized a government vehicle. A police source in the area said its driver, three local officials and two other people were now missing and presumed kidnapped.

Reuters.

Les deux grenades ont été lancées mardi soir depuis le bord de la route le long d’un mur entourant les bâtiments de l’organisation, ont indiqué des témoins. Des gardes ont ensuite ouvert le feu mais n’ont atteint personne.

“Il y a eu une attaque à la grenade dans la base hier soir, les explosions se sont produites près du mur mais n’ont fait aucun blessé puisqu’elles n’ont pas atteint les bâtiments”, a souligné un responsable local des Nations unies qui n’a pas souhaité être identifié.

Mohamed Jama, qui habite près de la base, a assisté à la fin de l’incident.

“J’ai vu deux hommes courir dans la rue derrière ma maison après avoir jeté les grenades, les gardes des Nations unies postés dans le mirador ont ouvert le feu mais apparemment personne n’a été blessé”, a-t-il dit.

“Les grenades ont explosé près de la route principale menant à l’aéroport, tout près du mur de la base des Nations unies”, a-t-il ajouté.

L’attaque n’a pas été revendiquée mais les rebelles islamistes shebab qui se revendiquent d’Al-Qaïda mènent régulièrement des actions de guérilla à Mogadiscio depuis qu’ils en ont été délogés en août sous la pression du gouvernement de transition (TFG) et de la force de l’Union africaine (Amisom) qui le soutient.

“Ce n’est pas la première attaque de ce genre, il y a eu plusieurs attaques à la grenade ciblant la base des Nations unies ces dernières années”, a souligné Abdirisak Ali, un autre habitant vivant près des bâtiments de l’organisation.

“Ils n’ont en fait pas pu s’approcher de la base et ont donc dû jeter les grenades depuis une certaine distance”, a-t-il précisé.

La Somalie, en état de guerre civile et sans gouvernement effectif depuis 1991, est un des pays les plus dangereux pour les humanitaires. Trois provinces somaliennes sont encore en état de famine et les organisations humanitaires sont la cible d’attaques fréquentes.

Jeune Afrique.

Yves van Loo of ICRC Somalia said the wounded were mainly civilians caught in fighting in the last 10 days in the frontline regions of Afmadow and Dhobley, where air strikes have also taken place in recent weeks.

The ICRC said the fighting made it difficult for the wounded to reach hospitals for treatment.

On December 20, a Kenyan warplane bombed a Somali village held by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, killing and wounding several people.

Kenya said on Friday its forces had raided an al Shabaab patrol base in Qoqani, about 30 km (19 miles) west of Afmadow, in an attack that killed five rebels and one Kenyan soldier.

Al Shabaab and a Somali government soldier said the rebels had attacked a Kenyan convoy on Thursday.

There has been little ground combat since Kenyan forces crossed into Somalia more than two months ago to crush the militants, whom Nairobi blames for a spate of kidnappings and cross-border attacks.

“More than 100 wounded people, mainly civilians, reached the medical facilities during the most recent phase of fighting,” Randi Jensen, an ICRC nurse, said in a statement.

The ICRC said it had provided a hospital in Kismayu, a major southern port city that is a bastion for al Shabaab, with one tonne of supplies for the surgical treatment of casualties.

The agency also delivered 300 kg (660 pounds) of medical supplies to clinics in Dhobley and Afmadow.

The supplies were transported by road from Kenya and Mogadishu after all warring parties had guaranteed safe access to the ICRC, Van Loo said.

“There may be more to come, and more casualties to be reported, because not everyone has been able to reach the medical facilities,” Van Loo told Reuters, adding that some of the wounded had shrapnel and gunshot wounds.

“And with air strikes people are often in shock, so it takes a few days before people reach medical facilities.”

MSF AID WORKERS SHOT

Kenya’s war against al Shabaab is just one of several flashpoints in Somalia, which has been in turmoil for the last two decades, making it among the most dangerous countries for aid workers, civilians and journalists.

In the Somali capital Mogadishu, where government troops and African Union peacekeepers maintain a tenuous hold on security, two foreign employees of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres were shot dead on Thursday.

MSF has now identified those killed as 53-year-old Belgian Philippe Havet, an emergency coordinator, and Andrias Karel Keiluhu, a 44-year-old Indonesian doctor.

Police told Reuters a Somali MSF staff member had shot the two, prompting the aid agency to say it would relocate some of its staff for security reasons.

“(But MSF) remains committed to continuing our humanitarian work in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia,” said MSF, the agency which also had two Spanish aid workers kidnapped from a refugee camp in Kenya in October.

Kenya’s border region with Somalia, where the Dadaab refugee camp is located, has also witnessed some low-level violence since Nairobi’s cross-border campaign began.

On Thursday, Kenyan police said suspected al Shabaab militants had shot and fatally wounded a Somali member of a local security committee in Dadaab who had been assisting Kenyan forces on security issues in the camp.

North Eastern police commander Leo Nyongesa said six suspects had been arrested in connection with the killing.

Reuters.

Somalia has appealed the decision by Sunrise Community Banks to end the remittances program from Minnesota, the state that is home to the largest Somali-American community in the United States. U.S.-based Somalis send about $100 million back home each year, according to the U.S. Treasury.

The move to shut down the service came two months after two Somali-American women from Rochester, Minnesota, were convicted of raising money for al Shabaab rebels, al Qaeda-linked militants who control parts of the Horn of Africa country.

Sunrise has said it is looking for alternate arrangements to send remittances, but would end the service it was providing on Friday over fears that it would risk violating U.S. regulatory and anti-terrorism financing laws. It said the decision to end the service was unrelated to the trial of the two women.

The Somali American Money Services Association said the businesses complied with state and federal laws and believed they were being singled out and denied vital banking services.

“Remittance is an essential lifeline for the Somali people, and it is the only source of funding that sustains the livelihood of millions of Somalis, mostly women and children,” the association said in a statement.

The association said services would resume once a solution could be found.

The end-of-year deadline had sparked appeals by the Somali community in Minnesota, the Somali government, U.S. lawmakers and relief groups to find an alternative to the services.

The Somali government has said an estimated $2 billion — one-third of the country’s gross domestic product — is channeled to Somalia through “hawala” or small money transfer businesses.

U.S. banks have been closing such services over the past several years, leaving few alternatives to send money to Somalia, which has no formal banking system. Advocates said the Sunrise shutdown would force Somali-Americans to use less secure and less documented routes.

The association said a rally was planned for Friday afternoon in Minneapolis to protest the end of the services.

‘CATASTROPHIC HUMANITARIAN SITUATION’

Democratic U.S. Representative Keith Ellison of Minneapolis appealed to President Barack Obama earlier in December to find a way to continue the remittances, citing the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Somalia.”

Sunrise said it recognized the potential impact from the end of the wire transfer services.

“We continue to work tirelessly with the community and government officials to create a temporary legal and regulatory solution that would allow the bank to extend the account closure date,” Sunrise said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Somali Mission to the United Nations appeale

Les appareils ont visé plusieurs endroits à Hosingow, dans la région du Bas-Juba, près de la frontière kenyanne tard mardi, ont indiqué des habitants.

“Il y avait au moins trois avions militaires qui ont lâché des bombes sur Hosingow, et l’une d’entre elles a touché une maison, tuant des civils”, a déclaré Abdi Isak, un témoin.

“Onze personnes, la plupart d’entre elles civiles, sont mortes dans le raid”, a-t-il ajouté.

“Une des bombes a atterri près d’une rue où les habitants vaquaient à leurs occupations, ils ont lâché des bombes et sont partis sans savoir qui ils ont tués”, a raconté à l’AFP un autre témoin, Ahmed Yusuf.

“Plus de dix personnes sont mortes et treize autres sont blessées, certaines d’entre elles sérieusement”, a-t-il précisé.

La provenance des avions n’était pas claire dans l’immédiat mais l’armée du Kenya voisin a mené plusieurs raids aériens dans la région depuis le début d’une offensive contre les rebelles liés à Al-Qaeda il y a deux mois.

Et elle a annoncé samedi son intention de mener des attaques aériennes contre des positions des rebelles shebab situées de plus en plus à l’intérieur de la Somalie.

Les insurgés, qui contrôlent de grandes zones dans le sud de la Somalie mais font face à une pression accrue des forces du gouvernement de transition somalien (TFG), de l’Union africaine (UA) et du Kenya, ont condamné le bombardement.

“L’ennemi a lâchement ciblé des civils à Hosingow et tué plus de dix civils innocents dans le bombardement de maisons par leurs avions de chasse”, a déclaré un responsable des shebab, Sheikh Abukar Ali.

“Ils vont le regretter, les combattants mujahideen se vengeront de cette attaque”, a-t-il ajouté.

La Somalie est en état de guerre civile et sans gouvernement effectif depuis la chute, en 1991, du président Siad Barre.

Jeune Afrique

Dans un autre post, il se moque des soldats du gouvernement de transition somalien en expliquant qu’ils sont totalement intoxiqués par les feuilles de khat qu’ils mâchonnent, alors que les shebabs, eux, en ont interdit la consommation. « Fuyez », écrit encore le mouvement islamiste en lettres capitales. Cette fois, cela s’adresse aux militaires kenyans qui ont lancé une offensive dans le sud somalien il y a deux mois pour en déloger les shebabs.

Toute cette opération de communication semble d’ailleurs elle-même une riposte à l’armée kenyane qui twitte jour après jour depuis qu’elle est entrée en Somalie. Son porte-parole, le major Chirchir, a créé son compte Twitter dès le 27 octobre, pour annoncer ce qu’il présente comme des victoires des forces armées kenyanes.

Et dans cette guerre de l’information, le major Chirchir a encore un peu d’avance, avec environs 10 000 abonnés à ce jour, soit dix fois plus que les shebabs.

RFI

“I am alive. It was a suicide bomber. You can see his body parts,” General Abdikarim Yusuf Dhagabadan told reporters at the site of the attack, Villa Baidoa. “Four of our soldiers died and 12 were wounded.”

The compound attacked on Wednesday is sometimes used by the country’s president, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

“The suicide bomber took advantage when guards were changing shifts at the main gate,” the army chief said.

A wave of roadside bombings have hit Mogadishu this week, killing at least seven people, in incidents that police and residents have blamed on the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab militants, who are seeking to topple the government.

Government forces have struggled to secure Mogadishu against attacks by the rebels who withdrew from most of their bases in the capital in August but vowed to launch large-scale attacks against government targets.

Somali government troops, along with Kenyan and Ethiopian forces, are also battling the Islamist militants in the rebel-controlled southern and central parts of the country.

Reuters.