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.

The post Muslim clerics on the frontline in Somalia’s fight against COVID 19 appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The death toll from the Mogadishu blast is expected to rise.

No one has claimed responsibility for the vehicle explosion that appeared to have targeted  a tax collection centre near a military checkpoint in Mogadishu.

The area has beenhit several times by jihadi group Al Shabaab.

The Islamist terror organisations was driven from the Somali capital eight years ago but has managed to return to stage indiscriminate acts of terror in Mogadishu and other urban areas.

Today’s victims include a number of children.

Among the dead in one of the deadliest attacks in Mogadishu in recent years is a busload of university students going to classes.

The post Somali rush-hour truck bomb kills 76 appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The post Al Shabaab claims responsibility for fatal attack on Kismayo hotel appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

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. 

The post US reopens diplomatic mission in Somalia after 28 years appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

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.

The post Somali authorities delay regional poll because conditions are not ready appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

He says this is essential to Egyptian tourism badly hit by a succession of terror attacks.

President Abdel Fattah el Sisi made his call to the Russian upper house of parliament on a visit to Moscow this week.

Russia stopped flights to Egyptian  airports three years ago after a bomb was placed aboard a Russian airline caused it to  crash on the Sinai peninsula killing all 224 people aboard.

Russia resumed flights to Cairo last April.

African skies are opening up.

Next month,Ethiopian Airlines has announced it will resume scheduled flights to Somali capital Mogadishu  for the first time in 41 years

The post Egypt’s president urges Russia to resume flights to its Red Sea resorts appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

US Air Force planes twice struck so-called Islamic State terrorists in Libya at the weekend.

Yesterday, US drones hit an Al Shabaab training base in Somalia.

Africom spokesman Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo says the US drones killed more than 100 Al Shabaab fighters in the Bay region north west of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

He said in Libya the US planes straffed  so-called Islamic State position in Fuqaha.

The militants have seized control of ousted dictator Muammar Gadaffi’s capital of Sirte along the coast from Tripoli and imposed their strict fundamentalist law on the local population.

The strikes were carried out in collaboration with the Libyan government forces.

The post Washington uses air power to fight militants in Africa appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The victims include three children and a dozen police officers.

The weekend attack follows twin bombings in the Somalia capital Mogadishu two weeks ago that killed more than 350 people.

Fifty people are still missing after the worst terrorist incident in Somalia’s existence.

Three of the bombers last weekend were caught. Two others blew themselves up after being shot.

The terrorists escaped with civilians fleeing the scene.

It showed yet again that Al Shabaab is able to carry out indiscriminate attacks in Somali cities.

The country’s police commander and head of intelligence  have been sacked for their inability to stop such outrages

The post Top Somali security officials sacked after terrorist attack appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.