President Sharif visits in Kampala, Uganda

Kampala (Sunattimes) Somali presiden Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Tuesday flew to Ugandan capital, Kampala, where he is expected to meet his Ugandan counterpart Yuweri Museveni.

President Sharif’s visit to Uganda is reportedly aimed at strengthening the two country’s co-operations and sharing on the latest developments in Somalia.

The president is also set to stay in Kampala till tomorrow.

Earlier on August this year, a high level delegation from Somalia led by President Sharif Sheikh Adan met Ugandan president in Kampala, Uganda.

During the visit, the Ugandan president Yuweri Museveni promised to send two thousand more Ugandan troops to join other peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu.

The two leaders have had lengthy discussions on drought and famine related crisis in Somalia and AU’s position in responding to the crisis.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral relation between the two countries and the international community’s position in getting a permanent solution to Somalia’s two decades old conflict.

ICRC resumes food distribution in Jilib after air strike

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has announced that it has resumed its food distribution to over 6,000 displaced people in a camp in Jilib district after it was temporarily suspended following an air raid on 30 October that left a number of people in the camp killed or wounded.

In a press release on Tuesday, head of the ICRC delegation for Somalia in Nairobi said Pascal Mauchle, appealed to all parties to Somalia conflict to spare the civilian population.

Mauchle said all feasible precautions must be taken to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.

Mauchle added that humanitarian relief personnel must also be respected and protected.

ICRC says the Somali Red Crescent volunteers administered first aid to the wounded and helped transfer them to medical facilities outside the camp after the Sunday attack.

The ICRC said it has provided the facilities with medicines and other supplies needed to treat the wounded.

The agency added that food distribution in Jilib is part of a large emergency operation currently being carried out by the ICRC with the aim of assisting some 1.1 million drought- and war-affected people across the hardest-hit areas of southern and central Somalia.

The announcement comes a day after Medicins Sans Frontieres revealed that its staffs in Marere, in Lower Juba Region, are treating dozens of injured people following Kenyan’s airstrikes in Jilib that hit a camp for internally-displaced people on Sunday.

Kenya’s military acknowledged carrying out an air raid but said it killed only Islamist militants. But military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir blamed Al-Shabaab for civilians deaths.

MSF said at least 3 people were reportedly killed and 52 others wounded mostly women and children, when an aerial bombardment hit the camp for displaced people in the town of Jilib on Sunday.

The agency said in a statement that it was transporting the wounded to the hospital in Marere for stablisation and treatment, noting it had limited surgical.

It added some of these patients may be referred to other facilities due to limits to the surgical capacity at the hospital.

Kenya sent troops across the border into Somalia in October following cross-border kidnappings blamed on gunmen from southern Somalia.

Somali sheep to meet Hajj seasonal demand in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will receive more than three million heads of sheep coming from Sudan and Somalia to cover the needs of the Hajj season and Eid Al-Adha.

The head of the committee of livestock traders at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Sulaiman Saeed Al-Jabri, said he expected the market prices to stabilize following the arrival of the large quantity of sheep.

Prices of sheep have been soaring with the approach of the Hajj season in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Jabri said his company will import about 1.6 million heads of this quantity while other traders import the rest. He was optimistic that the livestock market would see stability in prices during Eid Al-Adha.

He said the decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to subsidize import of fodder by 50 percent would also help in bringing down the prices.

Al-Jabri asked all livestock traders to help in stabilizing prices of sheep and warned them against exploiting the occasion of Eid to make a quick profit.

He called for more support to livestock traders and said hikes in international prices of livestock and the rise in the rates of foreign currencies against the US dollar have contributed to the increase in the prices of livestock in the Kingdom.

70 women in rebel custody for failing to meet its dress code

Al-Shabaab rebel group in Beledweyne town has on Tuesday rounded up over 70 women and locked them in for failing to wear heavy veils, reports say.

Rebel leaders accused these women of failing to dress according to Islamic teachings and opted to put on short veils instead of long ones.

Heavily armed rebel fighters were reportedly taking part in the swoop. Several women were caught up in the crackdown unaware.

Reports say several children whose mothers were locked in thronged in the rebel station, where their mothers were held.

Al-Shabaab ordered the detainees’ relatives to bring them heavy veils within 24 hours before they are released. The militants threatened to continue holding those whose relatives fail to bring them heavy veils.

The group has earlier ordered all women in areas under its jurisdiction to wear veils and cover all their bodies or face punished for neglecting Islamic orders.

In July this year, Al-Shabaab rebel fighters apprehended over 30 women in Afgoye corridor for not heeding their orders.

Al-Shabaab said the women broke a rule ordering all women in rebel held areas to wear thick and broad veils when going out of their homes.

Body of young man found dumped in parts of Mogadishu

Residents of Sar Kusta area along the main road linking Mogadishu to Afgoye town were today shocked after an unidentified body of a young man was found dumped in the area early on Tuesday.

The body was found dumped on a street near rebel manned checkpoint along the road between Mogadishu and Afgoye.

The body which bore gun wounds on the chest had a small piece of cloths hanging from his neck. The motive and those behind his killing is not yet known.

Locals suspect Al-Shabaab rebel fighters manning the checkpoint for being behind the brutal killing of the young man.

Several arrested for Las Anod’s Monday night attacks

Police in Las Anod town have arrested at least 20 people following last night’s attack on a police station, south of the city, injuring two officers.

Las Anod mayor, Keyse Mohamed Hajji Hussein said the attacks were two hand grenades targeting a police station, adding that the attacks were just apart in less than a minute.

The injured officers are now reportedly nursing their wounds in Las Anod main hospital.

Reports say police rounded up several people around the attacked station. The attacks heightened trepidations among the locals in the area.

No group has claimed responsibility of the attacks but the city mayor blamed unspecified organised gangs for carrying out the attacks. Police have not yet commented on the arrests.

Somalia humanitarian crisis forum held in Netherlands

A forum aimed at discussing humanitarian crisis in hunger-stricken Somalia has been held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The forum organised by a humanitarian aid agency, Safi Relief for Agro Pastoral Organization (SARAPO) was attended by officials from a Turkish Humanitarian relief aid, IHH and other stakeholders.

Head of SARAPO Mohamed Hassan Idiris told Bar-kulan that the aim of the forum was to inform foreign aid agencies operating in Somalia the magnitude of the crisis and ways in which humanitarian aids can be delivered to the needy people in Somalia.

Participants of the forum were shown documentaries depicting the plight of hundreds of thousands of people camping in refugee camps in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

An official with the Turkish agency who recently toured refugee camps in Mogadishu said the level of the humanitarian crisis in the area is currently going down, adding that his government played a major role in supporting the hunger-hit Somali people.

Needy families in Borame receive relief aid

A local aid agency, Alhuda Al-Islami, has distributed relief food to 550 needy families in Borame, Awdal region.

The Hargeisa based agency distributed the food aid comprising of rice, flour and cooking oil for low income families in the area.

Speaking at the distribution centre, Awdal deputy governor Abdinur Sugal thanked the agency for coming to the aid of such poor families.

Abdinur appealed for more food aid, saying that the number of needy people in the area outweighs the amount of relief food received. He requested for more since the distributed food has not reached all needy families in the area.

Alhuda Al-Islami head officer said they received the distributed food from abroad and meant for low income families in Borame.

Al-Shabaab evicts people around Baidoa Airstrip

Al-Shabaab militant group in Baidoa has reportedly ordered locals living around the Baidoa airstrip to immediately move from the area.

Speaking to pro-militant radio station, area rebel leader Adan Abuu Safia, ordered all families living areas around the airstrip to vacate their homes for few days without giving any reasons.

The order comes a day after alleged Eritrean plane carrying weapons and other military supplies for Al-Shabaab rebel group in Somalia landed at Baidoa airstrip.

Some of the evictees who spoke to Bar-kulan said they have other places to move to.

Rebel fighters on Sunday sealed off the area around the airstrip a time alleged Eritrean plane carrying arms for the group landed at the airfield. Heavily armed rebel fighters were also seen patrolling along major roads leading to the airstrip.

It is not clearly known the where the plane came from, but reliable sources say it was an Eritrean plane carrying shipment of military supplies for Al-Shabaab.

The alleged shipment comes a time the militia is locked in fighting with Kenyan troops who crossed the border two weeks ago in pursuit of rebel fighters accused of abducting foreigners from Kenyan territory.

In July this year, the United Nations has accused Eritrea for government of plotting an attack on African Union summit in Ethiopia in January this year and bankrolling Al-Qaeda-inspired Al-Shabaab militia in Somalia through its embassy in Kenya.

The report by a United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea said the Red Sea state’s intelligence personnel were active in Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya and Somalia, and that the country’s actions posed a threat to security and peace in the region, Reuters news agency has reported.

Asmara has repeatedly denied any involvement in funding rebel groups in the region.

The U.N. has earlier slapped an arms embargo on the Red Sea state, as well as a travel ban and an assets freeze on Eritrean political and military leaders who it says are violating an arms embargo on Somalia.