Day: May 20, 2023

As Sudan’s civil war enters its second month, ethnic killings are terrorising civilians in the troubled West Darfur region.

Residents told Al Jazeera that no place is safe and that Sudanese Arab fighters stormed a hospital to execute 12 wounded non-Arab civilians on May 14. Government buildings, food markets, schools and internally displaced camps have also been attacked, looted and burned.

‘They are killing all residents … and committing crimes against humanity,’ said Jamal Khamis, a human rights monitor in el-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur.

‘The militants especially know who the political and human rights activists are,’ he added, suggesting that he could be targeted.

Since a conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, the two sides have redeployed thousands of fighters from across the country to try to consolidate control over Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.

That has left a power vacuum in West Darfur where Arab militias have reportedly killed hundreds of people in el-Geneina.

Source: Somali National News Agency

Somalia is set to unveil the first National Identification card to the citizens, since the collapse of the central government more than three decades ago, according to the National Identification and Registration Authorities NIRA.

In an interview posted on YouTube Abdullahi Bihi, the chairperson of NIRA said, they are preparing to register over 500,000 before the end of this year 2023, as almost everything related to this has been completed and just goes forward.

In March, this year Somali President, H.E Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed the registration law after the approval of both Houses of the Parliament, and Bihi believed now they are capable of carrying out this immense project in the Horn of Africa Nation.

Pakistan National Database and Registration Authority have developed the database in which NIRA will operate, and for the safety and reliability of this server question, Mr. Bihi said in regard to that concern we have agreed, after the completion of this database eventually they will take the responsibility of the server.

‘In the beginning, we ordered them to create the server code with our name,’ Bihi said. Adding that ‘We secured the server control to be in our hands only’.

During the interview, Bihi confirmed that in the coming three years around 10 million Somalis will be registered.

Are there any registration fees? Was asked, Mr. Bihi replied so far no official decision on that but probably will be charged a small amount of payment to the cardholders in order to cover the operational cost.

A country has no official censes, and National Identification for more 30 years, is now trying to develop new digital ID for its citizens which even don’t know their number.

Source: Somali National News Agency

The Minister of Defence of the Federal Government of Somalia, H.E Abdikadir Mohamed Nur (Jama) closed a training for a special force of the Somali National Army in Uganda, on Friday.

The Minister urged the trainees to be the defenders of the Somali people and to continue the fight against the Al-Shabaab terrorists as their colleagues have been doing for the past months.

The Minister thanked the government and the people of Uganda for supporting the Somali people and its army, and also the United Arab Emirates for doing the same.

Source: Somali National News Agency

The National Intelligence and Security Agency has intercepted another container at Mogadishu Port containing military equipment intended for Al-Shabaab.

This follows a similar seizure on Wednesday.

An explosive device imported from abroad and intended for Al-Shabaab was also seized at Aden Adde Airport. Minister of State for Security Mohamed Ali Hagaa confirmed the news to SONNA.

The National Intelligence and Security Agency continues to work tirelessly to prevent Al-Shabaab from receiving weapons and equipment that could be used to harm the people of Somalia.

Source: Somali National News Agency