James Jeffrey Ethiopian press freedom gained a much-needed push thanks to reforms by prime minister Abiy Ahmed. But already the push back is occurring. In a small barely furnished office with some of the electric wiring still showing in half-completed walls, Habtamu Mekonnen sits at his laptop putting the finishing touches to tomorrow’s Berbera newspaper...
April 28, 2026
Category: Global News & Politics
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‘He was a great father’: Family seeks justice in beating death of Somali elder
By Christina Palladino MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A distraught family is pleading for justice after their 75-year-old father died of a serious head injury suffered during an assault. The family says he was a well-respected elder in the Somali community and they are devastated and in disbelief over the death of their father. Charges say the man, Shirwa...
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Somalia to Push for Voter Registration Ahead of 2021 Elections
Harun Maruf Somalia’s National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) has announced plans to register millions of Somalis to participate in what would be the country’s first popular elections in more than a half-century. NIEC Chairperson Halima Ismail Ibrahim told VOA that the commission would start registering voters in March 2020 in a campaign that could last months...
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AP FACT CHECK: Trump portrays ex-ambassador as wrecking ball
By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Friday that a U.S. diplomat was responsible for Somalia’s descent into chaos decades ago, a tweet that Democrats branded witness intimidation. Trump’s attack on Marie Yovanovitch came as she testified to the House Intelligence Committee about her service as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and her...
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Ethiopia’s inability to protect its ethnic minorities is the biggest obstacle to peace
By Yoseph Y. Getachew On Oct. 23, Jawar Mohammed—a high-profile activist and media mogul—accused Ethiopia’s security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him, a claim police officials later denied. What then followed is quite depressing. Over the next two days, violence that took ethnic and religious dimensions, erupted in much of the country’s Oromia...
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Somali government receives Qatari donation
The Somali government has received a donation from Qatar. It consists of equipment and machinery donated by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in addition to six boats provided by the Ministry of Interior. The shipment was delivered to the Somali side by Qatar’s ambassador Hassan bin Hamza Hashem. A ceremony was held on the...
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No charges for officers who shot man with gun in Eagan
By AMY FORLITI MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Five Minnesota police officers were legally justified in using deadly force when they fatally shot a 23-year-old Somali-American man who raised his gun and fired as authorities were trying to end an hours-long standoff in suburban St. Paul, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Isak Abdirahman Aden was killed July 2...
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Somalia struggles after worst flooding in recent history
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Ahmed Sabrie woke up to find his house half-submerged in fast-rising flood waters. Frightened and confused, he herded sleepy family members onto the roof of their home in central Somalia as scores of thousands of people in the town, Beledweyne, scrambled for their lives. Clinging to an electric power pylon by...
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Uhuru, Farmaajo meet at hotel, agree to resolve maritime dispute amicably
By Eliud Kibii, The Star Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Somalia’s Mohamed Farmaajo have committed to safeguard Kenya-Somalia bilateral relations despite the divisive maritime dispute before the International Court of Justice. Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma said in a statement on Thursday that President Farmaajo “expressed his confidence that the ICJ issue would be resolved in...