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25 Jan 2012 10:31

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World: Awesome: SEAL Team 6 rescues aid workers captured in Somalia

  • Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home. As commander-in-chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission.
  • President Barack Obama • Making a pre-dawn statement on the rescue of American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, two aid workers captured in Somalia back in October. The rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, the same group that killed Osama bin Laden eight months ago, so you know they’re good. All nine of their captors, rumored to be pirates holding the humanitarian workers for ransom, were killed in the rescue effort. Thisted and Buchanan were safe, however. Speaking about the rescue effort on the Today Show this morning, Vice President Joe Biden put it like this: “We wanted to act, and we did.” Well-put. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2011 18:09

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World: Islamic militants detonate truck bomb in Somali capitol

  • Be warned, the video shows some graphic images from the scene. The truck bomb attack killed at least 70 people, and injured dozens more, the most deadly terrorist attack in Somalia in five years. The militant Islamist group Al Shabaab has claimed responsibility, just two months after they retreated from the capitol of Mogadishu, pledging to wage guerilla war against the weak and tenuous interim government. Said a BBC journalist on-site: “…I genuinely feel, it is the worst incident I have seen here in Mogadishu.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2011 11:13

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World: Deal of the day — Somalia offers rebel soldiers conditional amnesty

If soldiers choose to renounce the rebels and put down their guns, Somalia will look the other way and not charge them with any crimes. Wonder if this will get rebels to switch sides. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Aug 2011 15:54

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World: U.S. plans to ease Somalia’s burden just a little bit

  • $100 million in U.S. aid could head Somalia’s way source
  • » Will this be enough to help? Joe Biden’s wife recently visited Somalia to highlight how bad things are. In case you don’t know, here are some numbers: Aid is only reaching 20% of the people who need it, more than 12 million people need aid in the Horn of Africa, and over 640,000 children are acutely malnourished. Let’s just hope that this aid can actually reach those who need it.
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Aug 2011 16:22

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World: Is al-Shabab losing ground in Somalia and Mogadishu, or just regrouping?

  • We have abandoned Mogadishu but we remain in other towns. We aren’t leaving you. We have changed our tactics. Every one of you will feel the change in every corner and every street in Mogadishu. We will defend you and continue the fighting.
  • Al-Shabab spokesperson Ali Mohamoud Rage • Regarding the al-Qaeda group’s decision to leave Mogadishu, the capitol of Somalia, a country that has been struggling with a major humanitarian crisis of late. Is it a tactical change, as the spokesperson suggests, or a real corner turned? Somalia’s president, Sheikh Shairf Sheikh Ahmed, seems to suggest the latter. “It is time to harvest the fruits of peace,” he said. “I call on the Somali people to help and to support their soldiers and point out any Shabab member hiding in homes.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Aug 2011 16:04

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World: U.S. makes it legal for aid groups to help Somalians

  • before Aid groups couldn’t get food to starving people in al-Shabaab-controlled areas in Somalia. That’s because the U.S. has sanctions against the al-Qaeda affiliated group who is doing everything in their power to ensure aid doesn’t reach civilians — including diverting aid and killing aid workers.
  • now The U.S. now says it won’t prosecute aid groups whose aid falls into the wrong hands — which is a good thing. It’ll make it at least a little easier to get aid to people in Somalia, but it’ll still be dangerous. 14 World Food Programme workers have been killed in the region since 2008 alone. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Jul 2011 11:59

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World: Somali women, children face constant danger at Kenyan refugee camps

  • bad Many Somali refugees, struggling to stay alive amid a harrowing drought, have tried leaving the country and heading towards refugee camps in Kenya. The camps are growing by the day.
  • worse Many of the women at these sprawling refugee camps face the constant danger of rape — even when they’re merely trying to take their children to use the bathroom or gather firewood. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

19 Jun 2011 12:07

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World: Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed resigns

Mohamed, who had his supporters, stepped out of the way “as a sacrifice for the interest of the Somali public” after the president made an agreement to build a new government. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2011 13:50

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World: U.S. embassy bombing suspect Fazul Abdullah Mohammed killed

  • There was reportedly a $5 million bounty on his head. Mohammed, the main suspect in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings which killed more than 220 and injured over 5,000, was reportedly killed in Somalia on Wednesday. “We have received that communication from authorities in Somalia. We have been told that there were two terrorists who were killed in Somalia on Wednesday last week,” said Kenyan Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed the death, saying it was a “just end for a terrorist who brought so much death and pain to so many innocents.” The 38-year-old was reportedly in charge of al-Qaeda’s operations for the entirety of East Africa, so this was kind of a big one. Actually, you know what? This year has been full of huge losses for al-Qaeda. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2011 09:44

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World: U.S. takes on Somali pirates, loses hostages in process

  • As (U.S. forces) responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds.
  • A statement from U.S. Central Command • Revealing that, during a U.S. Navy rescue effort to save the four Americans on the yacht Quest, the Somali pirates on board killed the Americans. After getting on the ship, the soldiers engaged in a battle with U.S. forces, with two pirates died and 13 others were captured. The remains of two others were found on board. An awful end to a scary story. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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