Somalia

U.S. Special Operations forces rescued an American hostage and her Danish colleague in Somalia early Wednesday in the kind of daring raid that the Obama administration has said will be the hallmark of future U.S. military missions. Officials said the raid, by members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 unit that killed Osama bin Laden in May, demonstrated President Obama's focus on the narrow, targeted use of force after a decade of large-scale military deployments. The mission is "yet...

MINNEAPOLIS — Two men who left Minnesota to join al-Shabab in Somalia were sentenced Tuesday to three years in federal prison, while a man they characterized as a local leader in efforts to recruit them to the terrorist group was sentenced to 12 years. They were among six men sentenced this week for their roles in the government's long-running investigation into the travels of more than 20 young men who left Minnesota to join the al-Qaida-linked group in Somalia — a phenomenon that has...

A U.S. destroyer off the coast of Somalia closed in Saturday to within a few thousand yards of a hijacked Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and ammunition, a U.S. defense official said. As Russian and American ships pursued the hijackers of the Ukrainian-operated vessel, pirates seized a Greek tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, an international anti-piracy group said. On Thursday, pirates seized the Ukrainian ship Faina with 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks and ammunition.

Name: Cara Christie Position: Disaster operations specialist, U.S. Agency for International Development Best known for: In 2011 and 2012, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia were reeling from the region's worst drought and famine in 60 years. Malnutrition and death rates soared, crops failed, livestock died and food prices skyrocketed. At the height of the crisis, more than 13 million people needed assistance. Christie led the $1.3 billion U.S. relief effort to provide food, water, emergency health, nutritional care and cash...

Thank you for the coverage of famine in Somalia . However, I think the gravity of the situation merits continual placement of stories above the fold on the front page. Americans are perceived as not caring about international matters, but I think a humanitarian crisis on such a large scale is an exception. The budget impasse was important, but its monopolizing the entire upper half of the front page for days was inappropriate. There are issues in the world right now other than America's economy — such as the needless...

ONE OF THE rhetorical questions frequently tossed out in the debate over Afghanistan concerns the brewing trouble in Somalia and Yemen, both of which are known to host al-Qaeda cadres and training camps. If it's necessary to pacify Afghanistan to protect U.S. security, goes the taunt, must we also intervene in Somalia and Yemen? The presumed answer is: "Of course not -- and therefore why bother with Afghanistan?" The more sensible response is: If something is not done soon about these lawless places, one or the other may well become the next...

Before the Obama administration considers new military strikes on al-Shabab fighters in Somalia, it should weigh the political costs of such an action ["Obama Team Mulls Aims of Somali Extremists," front page , April 13]. Under President George W. Bush, the U.S. government carried out at least four airstrikes in Somalia in 2007 and 2008. One killed a prominent al-Shabab commander. But the strikes, along with U.S. support for a heavy-handed Ethiopian counterinsurgency effort, fomented unprecedented levels of anti-American sentiment among ordinary...

SKILLFUL SHOOTING by U.S. snipers rescued an American ship captain from Somali pirates Sunday -- along with an Obama administration facing its first foreign emergency. Unfortunately, no silver bullets are available for the growing threat of piracy in the Indian Ocean or the toxic anarchy that has spawned it. President Obama said in a statement Sunday that "we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for those crimes.

NAIROBI, Jan. 2 -- Ethiopian troops propping up Somalia's fragile transitional government began a partial withdrawal from the seaside capital of Mogadishu on Friday, a move that many Somalis and analysts say will probably touch off a vicious scramble for power among various Islamist factions and clan militias. The Ethiopian government had promised to withdraw its troops from the volatile Horn of Africa nation by the end of 2008, and on Friday, at least 18 military trucks piled with mattresses, cooking pots and soldiers rolled away from a key...

Walking through Mogadishu recently, I couldn't help but marvel. The streets teemed with people going about their daily lives. Construction boomed on virtually every block, fueled by investments from the Somali diaspora (and, perhaps, from pirates' ill-gotten gains). Police officers in crisp white shirts directed traffic — a phenomenon associated with a return to normality in many post-conflict areas — and workers repaired electrical lines. Spend an hour talking to Hassan Sheik Mohamud, the longtime...

NAIROBI, Kenya — More than 1 million babies die the day they are born every year, and the 14 countries with the highest rates of first-day deaths are all in Africa, according to a new report released Tuesday. Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone and Central African Republic are the five countries with the highest rates of such deaths, according to the report "Surviving the First Day" from the aid group Save the Children. "Health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa is woefully...

LONDON — International donors heeded warnings about the need for increased support for Somalia by pledging more than $300 million Tuesday toward bolstering security, justice and financial institutions in the conflict-scarred east African nation. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron co-hosted a one-day conference in London to bolster the beleaguered government in Mogadishu, the capital. Mohamud called the level of...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia's president over the weekend received the country's first pieces of mail in more than two decades. It's the kind of small but hopeful development that leaders meeting in London on Tuesday want to see more of. Britain and Somalia on Tuesday co-host an international donors' conference that aims to provide international support for the Somali government as it continues to leave behind two decades of conflict. Though Mogadishu still suffers...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Seven people were killed Sunday morning when a suicide bomber attempted to ram a car laden with explosives into a military convoy escorting a four-member Qatari delegation. Gen. Garad Nor Abdulle, a senior police official said the members of the Qatari delegation who were being escorted in the interior minister's convoy were unharmed and safely reached their hotel. Abdulle said the interior minister was not in the convoy. Mohamed Abdi,...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A barrage of bullets and two car-bomb blasts rattled Mogadishu on Sunday when nine al-Shabab Islamist extremists stormed Somalia's main court complex, officials said, in a two-hour attack that shows the country's most dangerous militant group might be down but not defeated. A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers. The government did not immediately publicize the number of security forces, government employees and civilians who died during the attack.

NAIROBI — A suicide bomber driving a car filled with explosives killed at least 10 people in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Monday, illuminating the lingering security challenges faced by the U.S.- and U.N.-backed government. Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked militia, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest this year in Mogadishu. The militia continues to stage guerrilla assaults, more than a year after African Union peacekeepers pushed the militants out of the capital.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Two minutes into the news conference Wednesday, the first explosion shook the Jazeera Palace hotel. Bursts of gunfire followed, sending government officials and journalists diving to the floor. Within seconds, a rare day of hope in Somalia had been transformed into an all-too-common day of mayhem. The hotel was under attack by three al-Shabab militants. All wore explosives-laden belts. One appeared to be disguised as a soldier. Their apparent target was Somali President Hassan Sheik...

NAIROBI -- When violence broke out in Somalia's battered capital this summer, cynics called it "business as usual. " Once again, they claimed that the warring Somalis were embroiled in an incomprehensible clan struggle and that the international community should stay away and let them get on with it. I could not disagree more. We are at a critical juncture here, and the international community must fully engage. This is not a classic civil war but an externally funded attempt to overthrow a legitimate, recognized government.

Break out your pith helmet, wax your mustache and raise a toast at the club: The French have liberated Timbuktu . It seems like the headline from the age of imperialism. In fact, it is one in a series of very modern conflicts and interventions across Africa. Operation Serval, with grudging U.S. logistical support, has disrupted al-Qaeda and its affiliates in northern Mali. Other African countries have pledged to provide a follow-on stabilization force. At the same time, U.S. combat aircraft supported a failed French hostage rescue mission ...