(Bloomberg) — Somalia is facing a humanitarian “catastrophe” as an escalating conflict restricts aid agencies’ efforts to provide food and medical supplies, Doctors Without Borders said. Every time we think it can’t get much worse, it does,” Nicolas de Torrente, the Geneva-based charity’s executive director in the U.S., said in a conference call today. “At this point, we feel we’ve reached a new low.” (more…)

Interim  Abdullahi Yusuf’s return to the national capital Mogadishu coincided with deadly attacks that killed at least 15 people, witnesses and officials said. Hundreds of Somali and Ethiopian government troops backed by armored trucks were deployed along the road that connects Aden Adde International Airport to Villa Somalia, the presidential palace. (more…)

The UN says Somalia has one the world’s most challenging aid situations. The number of people in Somalia in need of emergency food aid is likely to rise to about 3.5m in the coming months, the United Nations has warned. Mark Bowden, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for the region, says the food crisis is dramatically worsening.

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Images back Ethiopia abuse claim

The town of Labigah pictured in 2005 (top) and 2008 (bottom)

US scientists say satellite images confirm reports that the Ethiopian military have burnt towns and villages in Ethiopia’s Somali region.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science says the images back up a Human Rights Watch’s report

The US-based group says the troops are systematically ill-treating civilians in their counter-insurgency campaign.

Ethnic Somali rebels have been fighting for more autonomy for two decades in the region, also known as the Ogaden. (more…)

Somali Concern Groupкомпютри. PRESS RELEASE: 08 June 2008
Subject: Barbaric Shelling of Residential and Business Areas in Mogadishu. Today, 8 June 2008, is a black Sunday for Somalia. Today, the Ethiopian occupation forces and TFG militias attacked the commercial district of Bakarah and surrounding areas in Mogadishu without provocation.

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Gunmen in southern Somalia fatally shot a local journalist who had been a contributor to various news organizations including The Associated Press and the British Broadcasting Corp., his wife and a doctor said Saturday. Nasteex Dahir Farah, 26, was shot several times in the chest in the southern port city of Kismayo, said Dr. Mohamed Aden Dheel of Kismayo Hospital. He died at the hospital, Dheel said. (more…)

Somalia: Millions of Somalis risk starvation-Red Cross. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday that Somalia is facing life-threatening food and water shortages leaving millions at risk for starvation. “The Somali people are going through unbearable hardship,” said Pascal Hundt, head of the ICRC’s delegation for Somalia, in a written statement. “We are witnessing the worst tragedy of the past decade in Somalia.” (more…)

Response to acute humanitarian crisis hampered by insecurity and potential misperception of independent humanitarian actors. The Somali population is trapped between harsh basic living conditions and increasing insecurity. Hundreds of thousands of people rely on external aid to survive. But security threats against humanitarian workers are dramatically increasing and risk hampering vital assistance. Action Against Hunger (ACF), as an independent and impartial humanitarian organisation working in Somalia since 1992, counts on all actors to be able to continue to provide crucial assistance to those in need. (more…)

Feared Somali police chief packed peas for Tesco. The man in charge of one of Africa’s most feared secret police services worked in Britain for Tesco until 18 months ago. Mohamed Warsame Nur ‘Darwiish’, who has been accused of war crimes in conflict-ravaged Somalia, was employed through an agency to drive trucks and pack peas at the supermarket giant’s depot near Daventry, Northants, until late 2006. (more…)