The entire 2.3 million population of the Gaza Strip is facing crisis levels of hunger and the risk of famine is increasing each day as the Israel-Hamas war grinds on, a U.N.-backed body said in a report published on Thursday.

That makes the proportion of households in the Palestinian enclave that are in hunger crisis, or suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, the largest ever recorded globally, the report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated rapidly since Israel began a major military operation on Oct. 7, with heavy air strikes and a ground offensive laying waste to wide areas of the enclave since then, in response to a shock, deadly rampage into Israel by militants of Gaza’s ruling Hamas group.

Trucks bringing aid from Egypt have delivered some food, water and medicine, but the United Nations says the quantity of food is just 10% of what is needed for the territory’s inhabitants, most of whom have been displaced.

“There is a risk of famine and it is increasing each day that the current situation of intense hostilities and restricted humanitarian access persists or worsens,” the IPC report said.

Distribution of aid within Gaza has been hampered by military operations, inspections of aid demanded by Israel, communications blackouts and shortages of fuel.

Some desperate Gazans have jumped onto aid trucks to try to grab scarce supplies of food and other goods. There have been reports of residents eating donkey meat and emaciated patients seeking medical help.

‘UNPRECEDENTED’
“This report sort of confirms our worst fears,” said Arif Husain, chief economist and director of research at the U.N. World Food Programme, calling the crisis “unprecedented”.

“I’ve been doing this for the last 20 plus years. I’ve been to Afghanistan, I’ve been to Yemen, to Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, northeast Nigeria. But I’ve never seen something this bad happening this quickly,” he told Reuters in an interview.

The IPC, produced by a partnership including U.N. agencies and NGOs, sets the global standard for determining the severity of a food crisis using a complex set of technical criteria.

Crisis or Phase 3 levels of hunger mean households are suffering from high rates of acute malnutrition or can only meet minimum needs through crisis-coping strategies or using up essential assets, according to the IPC.

The IPC’s most extreme warning is Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine.

At least one in four households – or 577,000 people – in Gaza are already facing catastrophic hunger, suffering from an extreme lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities, the IPC found.

That is more than four times as many people as those estimated to be facing catastrophic hunger elsewhere in the world, Husain said.

In Sudan, the IPC estimates that war has driven some 37% of the population into Phase 3, or crisis levels of hunger, with 10% of the population facing Phase 4 “emergency” levels.

In South Sudan, the IPC found 46% of the population faced crisis levels of hunger in recent months, while in Afghanistan the estimate was 29%.

Famine has been declared only twice in the past 12 years, in parts of southern Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017.

“If the war continues the way it is, if the assistance is not coming in the way it should, we will be looking at a famine in the next six months,” Husain said of the situation in Gaza.

“Whether it happens in two months or whether it happens in three months, it’s anybody’s call.”

Reporting by Aidan Lewis Editing by Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry

Source Reuters

Citizens have the following rights under the Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia:

Article 19. Inviolability of Home

(1) The home and other dwellings of the person shall be inviolable, and their entry, search or surveillance shall not be allowed without a reasoned order from a judge.

(2) Any such order must be read properly to the occupier of the dwelling before entry, and the inspecting authority is prohibited to violate the law.

it’s very common, In Mogadishu and around the country, that former generals or warlords to have an armed security details and some of them even set up illegal checkpoints for a lucrative extorsion. Certainly, we welcome if the government is starting to deal with those engaged illegal activities. There are well known police commanders that run multiple illegal checkpoints and collect money for themselves and their protectors – powerful ministers and senators.

So far, there is no evidence from any government sources that confirm police had a warrant from a judge to go and arrest General Shegow.

Police did not only deny him his constitutional rights, but they also unlawfully claimed that he is not a general but a captain – as Somali captains deserve to be humiliated. This claim and how they treated the General during the arrest destroyed any credibility left for the police and what ever evidence they claim to have and bring against him henceforth is inadmissible to a lawful court and should be rejected.

No one is above the law, and certainly, we don’t want any general to be above the law, but we can not allow the police and the justice system to violate the rights of our citizens. Ahmed Ali Sheegow is a Somali citizen and the mob lynching subjected to him during the unlawful arrest is unacceptable.

Today, we are all General Sheegow and we demand his immediate release.

By: Abdulkadir M. Abow

The video, which circulated widely on Wednesday, showed Nasro Abukar Ali competing in the third heat of the first round of the women’s 100-meter race at the International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) Summer World University Games in China.

Ali starts sluggishly out of the blocks as the other runners burst forward, and quickly fades far behind the pack before jogging toward the finish line and ending with a small skip.

She finished in 21.81 seconds – more than 8 seconds slower than the second-last runner, and more than 10 seconds behind the winner of the heat.

The video immediately made waves on social media, prompting ridicule, disbelief, and for some, anger.

“It’s disheartening to witness such an incompetent government. How could they select an untrained girl to represent Somalia in running?” one person wrote on Twitter, now known as X, in a post with more than 47 million likes. “It’s truly shocking and reflects poorly on our country internationally.”

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Somalia said it had suspended Khadijo Aden Dahir, the chairwoman of the Somali Athletics Federation. It alleged Dahir had engaged in “acts of abuse of power, nepotism, and defaming the name of the nation in international arena,” in a letter addressed to the Somali National Olympic Committee and tweeted by the ministry.

Somali Minster of Youth and Sports Mohamed Barre Mohamud said Ali was not a “sports person nor a runner.” According to Forbes, Mohamud had earlier “apologized” for the incident in a Facebook video. “What happened today was not representative of the Somali people,” he said in Somali, Forbes reported.

Though his letter referred to nepotism, no direct link was made between Dahir and Ali.

On Tuesday, the Association of Somalia Universities said in a statement it had not sent any runners to the event.

Maya Hawke, Alexander Skarsgard and Zoe Kravitz
Why everyone’s talking about ‘nepo babies’
In Wednesday’s letter, the Ministry of Youth and Sports said an investigation found there was no “registered Somali University Sports Association,” without elaborating on the association and its role in the competition.

The letter added that the ministry intends to “pursue legal action against both the Chairman of the Athletics Federation of Somalia and individuals responsible for falsification of the Somali University Sports Association.”

CNN has reached out to Mohamud for comment through the East African country’s Sports Ministry, and to the organizers of the FISU event, the Somali National Olympic Committee, Somali Athletics Federation and World Athletics.

The Summer World University Games are ongoing in Chengdu, southwestern China.

CNN’s Savanna Stewart, Sahil Kurup and Wayne Sterling contributed to this report.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Turkey later this month to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Netanyahu will be received on July 28, a few days after Abbas, who is expected to visit on July 25, the Turkish presidency said.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will welcome the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Turkey in the course of the same week,” the presidency said in a statement.

The leaders will discuss “Turkey-Palestine relations and the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as other topical international issues”, it added.

Netanyahu’s visit will be the first by an Israeli prime minister since Ehud Olmert in 2008.

Relations between Turkey and Israel have improved over the past year, with several high-level visits, including that of Israeli President Isaac Herzog after more than a decade of tensions.

In 2010, relations were strained after the deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos that saw relations downgraded for more than half a decade.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel in May 2018, and expelled Israel’s ambassador to Turkey after about 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza during a rally against Israel’s illegal blockade of the coastal enclave.

Erdogan accused Israel of “state terror” and “genocide” over the killings, calling it an apartheid state.

Israel retaliated by dismissing the Turkish consul general in Jerusalem.
The upcoming visits, organised by Turkey, come amid heightened tensions with some of the worst violence, including the first Israeli drone assault in the area since 2006, increasing military raids on Jenin and northern occupied Palestinian territories and settler attacks in Palestinian villages.

Earlier this month, Israel targeted the Jenin refugee camp, killing 12 Palestinians, including three children.

At least 3,000 people fled their homes while dozens of houses were shelled, and widespread destruction was caused to roads and other infrastructure.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

In a press statement Thursday, AFRCOM said the “collective self-defense” airstrike occurred July 19 in a remote area near Hareeri Kalle, approximately 15 kilometers south of Galcad.

AFRICOM said the strike was in support of Somali National Army forces fighting al-Shabab. The strike came at the request of the federal government of Somalia, the statement added.

AFRICOM said it will continue to assess the results of Wednesday’s operation and will provide additional information “as appropriate.”

The Somali government has been fighting al-Shabab militants since 2006. The group was removed from major cities but continues to control vast areas in the countryside.

In August 2022, the Somali army, supported by self-mobilized local fighters, launched a military offensive that seized parts of central Somalia from the militant group.

The militants have struck back, raiding military bases and inflicting heavy losses on government forces in the south and central regions.

Meanwhile, Hussein Sheikh-Ali, the national security adviser for Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, told VOA this week the Somali government hopes to get a financial boost in December when a fundraising conference will be held in New York for the Somali army.

Ali said six countries — the United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar — as well as the European Union will co-sponsor with Somalia an international donor conference for the Somali security sector.

“We are expecting something that would take Somalia up to 2027 when Somalia believes we can take over to fund our security forces completely,” Ali said.

The Somali government is aided by an African Union force and independently operating Ethiopian forces that are also fighting al-Shabab.

The United States, Turkey, Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates are among the nations training the Somali National Army.

Source VOA

The al-Qaida-linked armed group blocked the only major road plying the Somali capital of Mogadishu to Baidoa and the situation has caused a shortage of food and other essential supplies.

The incident occurred after the detention of local teachers by the regional government after they met al-Shabab militants outside Baidoa as the state accused the tutors, including university deans and school principals of being sympathetic to the terrorist network’s ideology.

In a span of one week, the cost of living has increased, exerting new pressure on ordinary citizens.

Hawa Yarow Issack, a mother of six who runs a small roadside tea shop in Baidoa, urged the local authorities to come up with a lasting solution to the dire economic situation. “A person like me cannot endure this dire situation for long. Our small-scale businesses rely on road supplies from Mogadishu and if the road blockade continues, our daily bread will evaporate. The government needs to act soon,” Yarow said.

Baidoa, a city located in the South-West State of Somalia, hosts an estimated population of 600,000 internally displaced persons, and the al-Shabab set up a blockade, cutting off transport to and from Baidoa, disrupting humanitarian services, threatening the livelihoods of vulnerable civilians.

Residents said the blockade has paralyzed transport and businesses, resulting in price hikes.

Hussein Abdow Alio, another trader who owns a gasoline station in the heart of Baidoa, decried the possibility of triple inflation in the coming weeks unless there is urgent intervention from the government. “I used to sell one liter of gasoline for about 1 U.S. dollar, but now it has reached 2.5 dollars per liter. The three-wheel motorcycle riders and taxi drivers are very worried about the hike in fuel price,” Abdow told Xinhua in an interview Thursday.

Through a text message to its customers, Baidoa Electric Company said there will be a change to the 24-hour power supply system in Baidoa caused by insufficient fuel. “To all Baidoa Electric Company customers, we would like to notify changes made to the supplying hours of electricity to our consumers. Regarding the shortage of fuel, the operating hours will be from 8 a.m. in the morning to 3 p.m. in the afternoon and also from 6 p.m. evening to 1 a.m., Somali local time, effectively from July 19,” the power utility said.

Somali Minister of Livestock, Forestry and Range Hassan Hussein Mohamed said at a recent media briefing that the war against al-Shabab militants will be intensified in the wider Baidoa region. “There is an ongoing all-out war against al-Shabab. The people of Baidoa should get ready to play their part in eradicating the militants,” the official said.

The militants have also blocked a major road in Hudur, the provincial headquarters of the Bakool region in southwestern Somalia, which they have controlled for a decade and where humanitarian aid for vulnerable civilians is always airlifted.

Let’s start with the publisher. Dear Hiiraan News, I have always been disappointed by your work and truly never cared about what you reported. Unfortunately, today this article was sent to me and wish I didn’t read it. Yes, I realize that it has become a common practice among our people to compromise their morals and that there aren’t many competent news reporters in the country. Furthermore, I am aware that Somalia lacks an independent news source; yet, this is the lowest I have ever seen. Let’s question our intelligence. How much did it cost to convince Hiiraan News to print this glorifying piece about President Abdiaziz Hassan Laftagareen? Some are better left untold.

Dear Abdifatah M. Abdirahman, it is appropriate that I list all of your titles. Aside from being President Abiaziz Hassan Laftagareen’s cousin and brother-in-law, he also serves as chief of staff for Southwest State.
What could motivate a man with so many titles to write such a vanishing piece about the president? I understand the job description of a Chief of Staff in a state government is very broad, and your duties could be modified when serving under anarcissistic leader. Oh, was this a big word for you? Please allow me to explain. Narcissism is a personality disorder that involves a pattern of self-centred, arrogant thinking and behaviour, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration.

A narcissistic leader is a leader who has grandiose belief systems and leadership styles and is generally motivated by their need for power and admiration rather than empathetic concern for the constituents and institutions they lead. Typical behaviours of narcissistic leaders, such as those exhibited by President Abiaziz Hassan Laftagareen, include:

1) People sing admiration songs while he nods his head and grins.
2) People line up to salute him every time he lands.
3) Host parties to commemorate him while there is famine.
4) Make guests take off shoes in his office while he wears them.
5) Visit IDPs camps in suites.

Before passing judgment, I try to see things from the other person’s perspective. Let’s imagine you wanted to highlight the president’s accomplishment, but your lack of knowledge and poor vocabulary in English put you in this situation. It is clear, given your English proficiency you didn’t write this article but we may say you gave instructions that consented to its publication.

Click the link

Afgoye, one of the most fertile areas of Somalia, and its people are between a rock and a hard place situation effected by one-sub-clan militia/police unit that claim the legitimacy of the state on one side and ruthless terrorists that profess a religious mandate on the other.

For a long time, former junior warlord known as Commander Nuur Xayir led a notorious police unit (Rescue Unit) located in Afgoye whose members are exclusively from his own sub clan Reer Hilowle, Sacad, Habar Gidir who hail from Galkacyo, Galmudug. They are there as pretext of fighting terrorism. For that reason, they are funded by the International Community through Federal Government of Somalia.

Furthermore, the Commander set up over a dozen Isbaaro (illegal check Points) in and around Afgoye where he collects money – money that is badly needed for development projects like schools, disasters (floods and droughts) management and hospitals – for himself and his protectors.

His protectors are former warlords who are currently members of the current government (a senator and a minister) hailing from the same sub clan. Top leaders of the government both Federal and Southwest State (executive and legislative branches) are turning blind eye of what this tribal “police” unit is doing.

The commander usurped all the powers of the successive governors of Lower Shabelle region and mayors of Afgoye and effectively rendered them useless. In exchange they receive an insignificant daily stipend from the thousands of dollars he receives daily from the illegal check points in and around the town. The rest go to his pocket and his protectors’ as his one-sub-clan special unit is fully funded by the government.

Obviously, this unit was not created for protecting the people of Afgoye as the targets of their extortion are the people and their businesses. It is a perfect criminal gang disguised as a police and actually paid by the government.

The commander and his unit rule, if that can be said, the main roads – by setting up illegal check points – during the daytime where they mainly collect huge sums of money and go back to their camps. The evenings belong to the terrorists.

Terrorists, bereft of Islamic manners but disguising themselves in religious garments, come to life in the evenings and do what they are good at – terrorise the people.

They collect their extortion money, calling it Zakawat (obligatory charity payments under Islamic law), from the people and they ruthlessly kill anyone they either suspect or know is knowledgeable about their scheme.

People in Afgoye believe that there is a tacit agreement between those two parties and they are in concert to rob them their resources. This police unit lack the public support and cooperation needed for their legitimacy and failed their sole task of fighting terrorists.

As part of the new government initiative to fight the terrorists this police unit must be disbanded and replaced with a legitimate police force that is recruited from local youth. The new force will be able to build the necessary trust between the police and the community that is needed to fight the terrorists and will put to stop the thousands of dollars that Afgoye is bleeding daily. We are suggesting this model of policing where officers come from local youth is the only way to fight terrorists effectively and should be established throughout the Lower Shabelle region.

This is not going to happen unless the donors step up and do proper reckoning of how every penny of their money is spent. In cases like this, it is not enough to monitor that every individual police officer is paid directly, what is needed is to seek the input of the community regarding the effectiveness of every police unit and evaluate every unit’s commitment of protecting and serving the community. To that effect, it is necessary for the donors to have direct communications with the communities to make sure that the expected outcome of the donations – improving safety, peace, security, justice and rule of law – are achieved. The community feedback must be considered and made an integral part of the assessment of the officers and commanders for promotions.

All the Somalis and Afgoye Diaspora group, specifically those in Canada, UK, EU, and US where most of the donations come from, should continue asking their representatives to do something about this gross mismanagement of their funds and possible human rights abuses committed with their donations by this controversial police unit led by a rogue commander who was a former warlord and is protected by other former warlords.

Afgoye Diaspora Group

NAIROBI, Nov 12 (Reuters) – The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces on Saturday signed an agreement laying out the roadmap for implementation of a peace deal that both sides reached in South Africa this month.

Representatives from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have been meeting in Nairobi since Monday to reach agreement on various aspects related to the implementation of the peace pact signed in Pretoria.

Saturday’s declaration is expected to boost efforts by the African Union mediators to resolve a two-year conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions in the Horn of Africa country.

It will facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, provide security guarantees to aid workers, ensure the protection of civilians and establish a joint committee to oversee implementation, mediators said.

The deal will be put into effect “immediately”, mediator Olusegun Obasanjo told a news conference before the signing.

BOTH SIDES COMMITTED
Both sides said they were committed to the declaration, stressing it was the only way to restore peace and stability.

“We will fully dedicate ourselves to implementing the Pretoria agreement and this declaration,” said Birhanu Jula, a senior Ethiopian military official and one of the government representatives at the talks.

Ethiopian military officials and TPLF had reached an agreement on the disarmament of TPLF fighters and entry of the Ethiopian military into the Tigrayan capital of Mekele, the federal government said in a statement issued after the signing.

Disarmament will start on Nov. 15, the declaration, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, showed.

The role of Eritrea, which has not participated in the talks, remains concerning, analysts say. Its troops have fought in the conflict on the side of the Ethiopian army.

“Disarmament of heavy weapons will be done with the withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF (federal military) forces from the region,” the declaration signed on Saturday said, without specifically naming any foreign forces.

Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Meskel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

One of TPLF’s representatives, General Tadesse Werede, said the declaration on implementation had given them hope that the suffering of the people in Tigray would end.

Asked if it included accountability for war crimes, Uhuru Kenyatta, another mediator and former president of Kenya, said that would come “when the guns are silenced and the dire humanitarian situation is addressed”.

“There shall be severe sanctions against anyone who commits atrocities against civilians,” he said.

The two sides agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities in an unexpected diplomatic breakthrough in South Africa on Nov. 2.

Immediate humanitarian access will be welcome relief in a region where hundreds of thousands face famine conditions.

On Friday Ethiopia’s government said international aid was “allowed and ready” to move into Tigray.

Agencies were preparing to send an aid convoy to Alamata in southern Tigray next week, and working out the final details for getting aid to other areas, a senior humanitarian official in Ethiopia told Reuters on Saturday.

Reporting by Ayenat Mersie, Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Writing by Duncan Miriri and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Christina Fincher

The Ethiopian National Information and Security Service and its counterpart in Somalia signed an agreement to jointly combat terrorism.

The Ethiopian National Information and Security Service and its counterpart in Somalia have signed a memorandum of understanding to carry out coordinated information exchange and joint operations to prevent Al-Shabaab, a threat in the Horn of Africa, and stop its terrorist activities.

The Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) announced that the MoU was signed by the Director General of the Ethiopian NISS, Temesegen Tiruneh, and the Director General of the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia, Mahad Mohammed.

NISS DG, Temesegen Tiruneh, expressed his deep sadness at the recent terrorist attack by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu.

He mentioned that his institution has been studying the communication network of the terrorist group as it is a source of threat not only to Ethiopia and Somalia but also to the Horn of Africa at large.

Temesgen indicated that since NISS is still closely monitoring the members of the group, it will exchange information with Somalia’s information and security institutions, assist operations in selected areas, and provide multifaceted support.

The DG of Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency, General Mahad Mohamed, said that the threat posed by the Al-Shabaab terrorist group to the Horn of Africa is growing as it attacks across the borders of Somalia as well as neighboring countries.

He said that in order to eliminate the threat posed by the group in the HoA region, the intelligence and security institutions of Ethiopia and Somalia should work together to clean up the leaders and cells of the terrorist group operating in Somalia and Ethiopia.

Mahad Mohammed also stated that Ethiopia has great capacity and experience in preventing and foiling terrorism.

However, he expressed his belief that results will be achieved by implementing the cooperation agreement reached through the exchange of information, the deployment of a coordinated anti-Al-Shabaab operation, and ensuring lasting peace and security in the HoA region.