Somalia names new prime minister

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (L) and his new Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali at a press conference at Mogadishu on June 23, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185945.html

Acting Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has been announced as the country's new premier following Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's resignation.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Thursday mandated Ali with forming a government, Reuters reported.

“He is a good man and worked hard while he was the deputy for the former PM. I hope he will improve the situation of Somalia,” Sheikh Ahmed said at a news conference in the capital Mogadishu.

The former prime minister stepped down last week following a deal inked earlier in June between the president and Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The deal extended the embattled administration's mission by 12 months.

The Kampala agreement is to settle prolonged disputes between the two opponents, which have infuriated international donors pushing for immediate political reform and ending armed clashes between rival factions.

The Ahmed administration was to be dissolved in August and the president and the speaker, who have been vying for the top post, were wrangling over the next step.

Ali, who graduated in public administration from Harvard and in economics from Vanderbilt University, was a professor of economics in the United States before joining the Somali government. He also served as minister for planning and international cooperation.

“Somalia is in a difficult situation, there is an economic crisis and insecurity. I hope I will succeed in overcoming all these problems. I urge the entire government and Somalis to help me achieve this,” the technocrat new prime minister said.

Ali is expected to name his cabinet within the next few weeks following consultations with members of parliament and clan elders.

Libyan jets open fire on protesters

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166354.html

The government of Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi has deployed fighter jets to open fire on pro-democracy protesters, who have taken control of a number of cities.

Pro-democracy protesters in Libya have seized several cities, including Benghazi, Sirte and in the border town of al-Zawiya, reports said on Saturday.

The Air Force now has dispatched fighter jets to attack protesters amid a revolution that appears imminent.

On the ground, forces loyal to Gaddafi are reportedly using live rounds against protesters.

This is while Planeloads of armed foreign mercenaries have reportedly landed in Tripoli.

Meanwhile in Tripoli, protesters attacked the headquarters of the state television station overnight and set fire to the offices of the People's Committees -- the mainstay of the government.

Reports also say that the security forces killed scores of people in the country's second largest city, Benghazi, in just a few hours.

The International Federation for Human Rights says as many as 400 people have been killed so far in the revolution.

The developments come as popular revolutions continue to sweep the US-backed autocratic regimes across the Middle East and North Africa.

In the meantime, there have been unconfirmed reports that Gaddafi has fled the country

MPs killed in Somali hotel raid

al-Shabab fighters in 2008


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/139885.html


Many Somali lawmakers have been killed after al-Shabab fighters raided a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, where government officials were staying.

Reuters quoted a legislator inside the Hotel as saying that 15 parliamentarians have been killed during the Tuesday attack.

"We have captured and killed 40 lawmakers" inside a Hotel named Weheliye, al-Shabab spokesman told a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu.

Somali government officials have only confirmed the death of three lawmakers.

The report came a day after at least 38 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between al-Shabab fighters and pro-government forces in Somalia.

Fierce clashes broke out in the capital city of Mogadishu on Monday after al-Shabab fighters attacked positions of pro-government forces backed by African Union (AU) forces, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Witnesses said nonstop shelling rocked the famous Bakara market, causing civilian casualties.

Mogadishu's Medina hospital reported receiving at least 75 wounded civilians.

An official from Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jama, a pro-government militia who requested not to be named, blamed rival fighters for starting the fighting.

"They attacked our bases in Dabka intersection but we repelled and pushed them further into Bakara, where they launch their offensives from," he said.

The Somali government condemned the latest offensives by the militant group.

"Al-Shabab spokesperson publicly declared war against the Somali people and government on Monday. This shows their lack of regards for the holy month of Ramadan. It is against Islam and the Somali culture to fight against another Somali," said a statement from Ministry of Information.

The latest skirmishes come after al-Shabab announced that it would be launching major offensives against the UN-backed government and African Union troops.

US to engage in 'hit and run' war in Somalia

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120260§ionid=351020501


The United States is involved in preparatory military operations in Somali for a 'major' offensive against Somali fighters, report says.

US is providing military assistance to Somali government in order to retake capital Mogadishu from Somali fighters, a recent report in The New York Times indicates.

The American military is conducting nighttime surveillance in the Al-Shabab-controlled areas of the capital and training Somali intelligence officers and forces in addition to providing logistical supports for the government, the report adds.

All the preliminary efforts, including reconnaissance and logistic operations, are meant to help launch a major assault on what US government dubs the 'al-Qaeda' branch in Somalia within 'a few' weeks.

“It's the Americans … helping us," the US newspaper quoted Somali military chief General Mohamed Gelle Kahiye as saying.

Meanwhile, a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity was quoted in the report as saying that American 'covert forces would get involved if the offensive fails to dislodge al-Qaeda terrorists.'

“What you're likely to see is airstrikes and Special Ops moving in, hitting and getting out,” noted the official.

The report also refers to secret US military and intelligence involvement in the Horn of Africa conflicts in the aftermath of the overthrow of Somalia's junta leader Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

It also mentions the US Central Intelligence Agency's failed collaborations with Somali warlords to stop the fighters in 2006 which led to a US-backed invasion of the impoverished African state by Ethiopian forces in the effort to kill top leaders of Somali fighters.

In summer 2009, the American government hastily shipped in millions of dollars of weapons in order to save the Somali government, it went on to say.

Recently, there have been reports of the arrival of US defense contractors in Somalia in order to support 'peace efforts' there.

American officials claim that between 6,000 and 10,000 trained Somalia troops would fight in the offensive against an estimated 5,000 Somali fighters.

Sana'a 'reaches deal with Houthi fighters'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118409&sectionid=351020206

Sana'a has reportedly reached an agreement with the northern Shia resistance fighters, known as Houthis, to put an end to a long running government offensive that left many innocent civilians killed or wounded in the country's mountainous regions.

"The ceasefire is going to be in effect at 12 midnight local time (2100 GMT)," Reuters quoted a Yemeni official as saying on condition of anonymity.

The Yemeni government and Houthi fighters had been involved in exchanging proposals in recent days to settle the conflict.

The conflict in northern Yemen began in 2004 between Sana'a and Houthi fighters. The conflict intensified in August 2009 when the Yemeni army launched Operation Scorched Earth in an attempt to crush the fighters in the northern province of Sa'ada.

Saudi forces began fighting with Houthis and bombing their positions on November 4 after accusing the fighters of killing Saudi border guards.

Houthi fighters say that Saudi forces strike Yemeni villages and indiscriminately target civilians. According to the fighters, Saudis use toxic materials, including white phosphorus bombs indiscriminately in northern Yemen.

The US military also has been involved in bombing Yemen's northern conflict regions of Amran, Hajjah and Sa'ada, according to Houthi fighters.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that since 2004, up to 175,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Sa'ada and take refuge at overcrowded camps set up by the United Nations.