Human Rights

US military sheds some light on civilian casualties from shadowy war in Somalia

Reacting to the publication today of US Africa Command's (AFRICOM) first quarterly assessment of civilian casualties resulting from its operations in Africa, which acknowledges that two Somali civilians were killed and three injured in an air strike, Seif Magango, Amnesty International's Deputy…

Somalia: Initial AFRICOM Civilian Casualty Assessment Quarterly Report

As part of the command's commitment to transparency, U.S. Africa Command is implementing a quarterly report on the status of ongoing and completed civilian casualty allegations and assessments.

An IDP samosa vendor woman among two shot dead by police enforcing curfew in Somalia capital

MOGADISHU (Horn Observer) On Friday evening, Madina Abdullahi Abdi, 19-years-old displaced woman has heard that police enforcing an extended night curfew was approaching to her area at Mogadishu's Bondhere district. She hastily wrapped up her large plate of samosa which she vendored and went indoors.…

Somalia: Places of detention overlooked during Covid-19 crisis

BAIDOA (HORN OBSERVER) Like most countries around the globe, Somalia finds itself in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of known infections has risen dramatically in the last weeks. Sweeping public restrictions have followed suit in a bid to curb the spread of the disease.

SOMALIA: SJS welcomes VOA reporter's freedom and the decision to revoke ban of Radio Barawe's local dialect program

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 23 April, 2020- Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) welcomes the release of Voice of America (VOA) journalist, Mukhtar Mohamed Atosh on Wednesday 22 April, 2020 and praises the decision to revoke the ban on Radio Barawe's programming in the Bravanese language.

To crack down on free press, Somalia accuses an imprisoned journalist of being member of 'terror group'

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 22 April, 2020- Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) strongly refutes the trumped up and baseless allegations by the Somali Federal Ministry of Information against Radio Hiigsi's editor, Mohamed Abduwahaab Nuur (Abuuja) held incommunicado since March 7.

SOMALIA: SJS condemns illegal ban on Radio Barawe's Baravanese dialect program

MOGADISHU, Somalia, 21 April, 2020 – Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) condemns the strange and unconstitutional order to ban the community-owned Radio Barawe's programming in the locally spoken Baravanese dialect by the authorities in Barawe, Lower Shabelle region, on Monday 20 April, 2020.

Saudi Arabia, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen bucked a global trend with spikes in executions

LONDON (Horn Observer) Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty…

A cough that kills people: Views of Somalia's displaced families on Covid-19

GAROWE (Horn Observer) For countries like Somalia, Covid-19 isn't just a health crisis, it's an economic juggernaut. Even before the outbreak gathers speed, people are feeling the pinch of inflation, widespread job losses and fear that measures to contain the spread of the virus will have an…

United States bolsters Somalia Covid-19 response with donation of 350 hospital beds

The United States Embassy Mogadishu, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will donate 350 hospital beds and 500 bedsheets to support the Somali Government in preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19. The Ministry of Health was present at a handover ceremony…