Authorities in Mogadishu are dealing with a handful of coronavirus infection. However they fear things will get out of control if the Al Shabaab misinformation against traction.

At least a quarter of a million people died in the famine a decade ago when Al Shabaab prevented people from accepting international aid.

Now the terror groupm is saying COVID19 is being spread by crusaders and their disbeliever allies.

Muslim  clerics in Mogadishu are using loud hailers at street corners to nail the lie and persuade the people that getting the help of the World Health Organisation is vital.

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No-one’s claimed responsibility but Al Shabaab has often attacked traffic on the Malindi Lamu road.

This is believed to be yet another retaliatory attack by Al Shabaab for Kenyan support of the UN peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Kenyan police escort traffic along the Malindi Lamu Road 450 kms from Nairobi because of terrorist attacks.

The bus that was first stoned and then fired upon had pulled ahead of the other two buses in the convoy.

The dead include the driver and a senior police officer.

The attackers ran into the Boni forest where they are being sought.

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It is the worst onslaught by Al Shabaab jihadis since they were driven from the port city seven years ago.

The attack began with a suicide car bomber blowing off the gates of the hotel enabling three gunmen to storm into a meeting of tribal elders, politicians and journalists.

The dead include three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans, and a Briton.

A regional presidential candidate, a United Nations agency staff member and two journalists number among those killed.

All three gunmen were shot dead by security forces who say they are now in full control. 

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Twenty people were injured.

Terror group Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack

The car bomb was placed near a military checkpoint at the presidential palace in Mogadishu.

A second explosion was detonated nearby, targeting first responders to initial blast.

Victims include a journalist and security staff accessing the palace.

An MP and government officials are among the wounded

Al Shabaab was expelled from Mogadishu years ago. It is able to make indiscriminate acts of terror in the capital.

The US and 20 000 African Union forces are working with the Somali military in countering Al Shabaab using both drone attacks and boots on the ground.

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The new chief envoy is Donald Yamamoto who was acting US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa until last July.

President Donald Trump’s ramped up military support for the Somali government the US recognized five years ago.

American warplanes and drones have struck more than two dozen times against Al Shabaab militants.

Washington’s been wary of involvement in Somalia since the notorious Black Hawk Down incident in 1993 when 18 US special forces were killed in the downing of an attack helicopter by rebels.

The US State Department says the return to Somalia indicates the progress made by the government in Mogadishu and will advance stability, democracy and economic development in that Horn of Africa country. 

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Authorities in Southwest State say they’s not ready to hold the polls on Wednesday.

Key presidential elections in Southwest state were originally slated for November 17.

They were then moved to November 28 and again until December 5.

The date is now set for December 19.

Authorities say the delays follow through investigations of conditions on the ground.

Southwest is the first state to go into the electoral process.

The candidacy of El Shabaab founding  deputy leader and spokesman  Mukhtar Robow who split with the terror organization when he fell out with its leadership is proving particularly problematic.

State authorities have overridden Mogadishu’s call for Robow to be barred from contesting the election.

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The former Al Shabaab deputy leader’s move into the mainstream has revolutionized the debate about post-conflict reconstruction.

 Mukhtar Rabow, known as Abu Mansour,  left Al Shabaab when he fell out with its leadership five years ago.

He retreated to bis village in southwest Somalia and was protected by his clansmen who make up the bulk of the terrorist group.

With a $5-million US bounty on his head, he surrendered to Somali authorities last year.

Authorities hope his high-high-profile return will make other militants reconsider their violent course.

There are, however, many victims of terrorism who feel he should not be allowed so easily to swap bullets for ballots.

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Yesterday she witnessed the signing of bilateral security and economic agreements with Nigeria.

Security plays an important part at the end of the first safari Theresa May has made as Britain’s Prime Minister.

Yesterday she offered Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari help – in the shape of equipment and training – in the fight against Boko Haram terror.

But business is the business of her journey that’s taken her to South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

Buhari admitted that Nigeria is nervously watching Britain negotiating its way out of the European Union.

May’s central central message is that however Brexit pans out, it will not affect Britain’s business dealings with Africa.

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The group has links to Somalia’s Al Shabaab terror group.

The insurgents decapitated another victim on the day before the police operation in Cabo Delgado province which is the centre of Mozambique’s emerging natural gas industry.

Police say the jihadis were killed near the two small villages where they decapitated ten victims including children.

More details of the operation are expected to be revealed today.

Cabo Delgado has seen a number of deadly attacks by suspected radical Islamists since October.

More than 300 people suspected of having ties to the group have been arrested since then, with more than a third still held, according to the authorities.

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Somalia’s President Mohamed Farmaajo says there’s still a long way to go to defeating Al Shabaab and reducing the number of troops will reverse Amisom’s success.

The UN Security Council and the Western funders  of AMISOM these past 11 years, say the Somali National Army has been rebuilt and trained and is strong enough to defend the country.

Not so say the AMISOM troop contributing countries.

At a summit in Kampala at the weekend, they delegated Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to explain to the world and continental bodies how dangerous a troop draw down will be.

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