Somalia

At least eight civilians have been killed in a militant attack on a popular hotel in the Somali capital, an official said on Aug. 20, as security forces continued to battle gunmen barricaded inside.

Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab stormed the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening in a hail of gunfire and bomb blasts, trapping scores of people.

Award-winning Somali poet Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, better-known by his pen name Hadraawi, died on Aug. 18 aged 79, prompting a flood of tributes to the "Shakespeare of Somalia."

Hadraawi died in a hospital in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland, after battling ill health for the past seven years.

Somalia's president on July 6 called for assistance from Türkiye to combat the effects of severe drought that is threatening the Horn of Africa.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made the comments during his first visit to Türkiye since returning to office following an election in May. The two countries have forged close ties over the past decade.

Somalia has announced it had awarded licences to two foreign banks, including Türkiye's participatin bank Ziraat Katılım, as the nation opens up the industry to international lenders.

Ziraat Katılım and state-owned Banque Misr of Egypt and will become the first international banks to operate in the country, Somalia's Central Bank said in a statement.

Two U.N. food agencies have issued stark warnings about multiple, looming food crises on the planet, driven by climate "shocks" like drought and worsened by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that have sent fuel and food prices soaring.

Turkey "strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack" on May 3 targeting the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia base in Middle Shabelle, Somalia, in which many Burundian troops lost their lives and were injured.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday that it had revoked its "Do Not Travel" recommendation because of COVID-19 for about 90 international destinations, including Bulgaria.

Munich – President Borut Pahor took part in a panel debate on the Western Balkans at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, arguing the EU enlargement process should be stepped up and offering the EU as the answer to all the issues troubling the region.

Turkey's National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Nov. 23 met with Somalia's Chief of General Staff Brig. Gen. Odawa Yusuf Rageh in the capital Ankara.

Rageh arrived in Turkey at the invitation of Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler.

The Somali National Army (SNA) received military vehicles, including trucks and ambulances, donated by Turkey on Nov. 16 as part of Ankara's support for the nation's military.

Senior military officials received the donation after a ceremony at the Turkish Embassy in the capital of Mogadishu.