Somalia politician executed for working with Ethiopians

October 3rd, 2009 Somalia's president meets with community in Minn.ST. PAUL, Minn. — The president of Somalia met with members of Minnesota's Somali community Saturday as part of a tour to build support for his tenuous government.

October 3rd, 2009 Militant: 3 aid workers freed in SomaliaMOGADISHU, Somalia — Kidnappers on Saturday released three foreign aid workers they had held in Somalia for more than two months, an Islamic militia commander said. Hizbul Islam commander Sheik Abdullahi Nor said he saw the three former hostages board a small plane Saturday in the southwestern Somali town of Luq.

September 30th, 2009 Somali group executes 2 men accused of espionageMOGADISHU, Somalia — An extremist Islamic group has executed two Somali men in the country's capital, accusing them of being spies for foreign organizations. A firing squad of 10 al-Shabab men killed the two on Monday in Mogadishu's main livestock market, says Said Yusuf, who was one of hundreds of witnesses.

September 28th, 2009 LONDON/NAIROBI - Oxfam Great Britain Tuesday warned that 23 million people were facing severe hunger due to climate change-exacerbated drought in East Africa. "This is the worst humanitarian crisis Oxfam has seen in East Africa for over ten years," Paul Smith Lomas, Oxfam's East Africa Director said in a statement.

August 29th, 2009 Ethiopia troops chase Somali Islamists out of townMOGADISHU, Somalia — Hundreds of Ethiopian troops have crossed the border and seized control of a Somali town from Islamist insurgents, witnesses said Saturday. The overnight incursion into the strategically important town of Belet Weyne is the first time Ethiopian troops have seized control of a town in war-ravaged Somalia since leaving the country in January as part of a peace deal.

August 20th, 2009 40 dead in Somalia fighting, witnesses sayMOGADISHU, Somalia — Fighting between government soldiers and Islamic insurgents killed at least 40 people in central Somalia on Thursday as the warring sides tried to gain ground in strategic towns. Witnesses also reported seeing troops from neighboring Ethiopia roll into the country — a development that would enrage insurgents who saw Ethiopia as an occupying force after it helped drive out Islamists in 2006.

August 20th, 2009 15 dead in Somalia fighting, witnesses sayMOGADISHU, Somalia — Fighting between government soldiers and Islamic insurgents killed at least 15 people in central Somalia on Thursday as the warring sides tried to gain ground in strategic towns. Witnesses also reported seeing troops from neighboring Ethiopia roll into the country — a development that would enrage insurgents who saw Ethiopia as an occupying force after it helped drive out Islamists in 2006.

July 12th, 2009 Minn. mom says missing son, 20, killed in SomaliaMINNEAPOLIS — The mother of a 20-year-old Somali man missing from Minneapolis says her son has been killed in Somalia. Abayte Ahmed (ah-BYE'-tee ah-med) said Sunday through an interpreter that she and her husband identified their son, Jamal Bana (BAH'-nuh), in a photo showing a dead body in Somalia.

June 18th, 2009 20 killed in explosion in SomaliaMOGADISHU, Somalia — A medical official says 20 people have been killed in an explosion in a western Somali town. Dr. Abdirahin Omar Amin of Belet Weyne Hospital says some people died immediately and others died when they got to the hospital.

June 1st, 2009 4 police officers killed in Somalia roadside bombMOGADISHU, Somalia — Police in Somalia say a roadside bomb in the capital has killed at least four police officers and several civilians. Somali police chief Abdi Hassan Awale said it was not immediately clear how many civilians died in Monday's attack in Mogadishu.

April 23rd, 2009 Somalia opposition leader arrives in capitalMOGADISHU, Somalia — A hard-line Somali opposition leader accused of having al-Qaida links arrived Thursday in Mogadishu for the first time in two years, officials said. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys had been based in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, after Ethiopian troops drove him and his supporters from strongholds in southern Somalia and Mogadishu.

March 22nd, 2009 SANA'A - A French Navy ship rescued around 100 African migrants, mostly Somalis, on a drifting boat in the Gulf of Aden Saturday, a Yemeni coastguard source said. The source told DPA that the boat was 65 miles from the southern Yemeni port of Aden when it drifted after an engine failure.

March 1st, 2009 SANA'A - Forty-five Africans drowned after a boat carrying them from Somalia across the Gulf of Aden capsized in deep waters off Yemen, the country's interior ministry said Saturday. The boat, carrying 46 would-be migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia, capsized Friday night about 95 km off the southeastern Yemeni port of Mukalla, the ministry said in a statement.

January 27th, 2009 NAIROBI/MOGADISHU - Somali insurgents have installed strict Islamic law in Baidoa, the seat of the Somali government, after taking control of the town. Main insurgent group al-Shabaab took over the town Monday, only hours after the pullout of Ethiopian troops who had been propping up the central government for two years.

January 1st, 2009 MOGADISHU - Dozens of trucks full of Ethiopian soldiers and their belongings left the Somali capital Mogadishu Friday as Ethiopia began to withdraw from its neighbour after a two-year occupation. Ethiopian forces invaded in late 2006 to help kick out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) - a hardline Islamist regime that was in power for six months.