A revised Humanitarian Appeal for Somalia was launched in Nairobi by the Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mr Christian Balslev-Olesen, to seek additional funding to respond to the critical needs of 2.1 million people whose already chronically food insecure and dire humanitarian situation has been further aggravated by the worst drought in a decade.

On Saturday March 18, the USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzales opened fire on Somali vessels inside the Somali coastline, killing one while taking others into custody. The office of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center received calls from Somalia, and therefore asks the US government to release those in detention and offer an accurate explanation about the details of the incident.

Seven countries have agreed to deploy security forces to Somalia to help find lasting peace in the country. Under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the countries also agreed to establish a regional emergency fund involving the private sector to fight ravaging famine in the Horn of Africa. In a 56-point communiqué released after a one-day Summit in Nairobi, Presidents Kibaki, Omar El Bashir (Sudan), Abdullahi Yusuf (Somalia), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Ismael Omar Guelleh (Djibouti) further welcomed the progress made in the implementation of peace deal for Sudan.

The Somali Bantu are often called "Africa's Lost Tribe." During Somalia's civil war in 1991, the Bantu had no allegiance to other Somali clans and thus no means of protection.  They suffered looting, rape and murder at the hands of warring factions and fled on foot to refugee camps in Kenya. Photographer Roberto "Bear" Guerra recently spent several months documenting the lives of Somali Bantu refugees in Boston.

It is not without justification that the breakaway republic of Somaliland is seeking international recognition and refusing to rejoin the Transitional National Government in Somalia. While the government of Abdullahi Yusuf is still looking for a suitable capital, Somaliland has been holding regular parliamentary and presidential elections, albeit without the international community paying much attention. Since the disintegration of Somalia provoked by the collapse of the Siad Barre administration in early 1991, leading to the breaking away of Somaliland into a self-declared independent republic, there has been an accelerated process of state building.

Local leaders, including traditional elders and the city mayor, met on Tuesday to discuss ceasefire plans. More than 20 people died in the recent clashes, which were the most violent seen in the capital in several years. Violence broke out when some militia leaders formed an alliance to fight supporters of unofficial Islamic Sharia courts that have emerged in Mogadishu.

Relatives of 10 alleged Somali pirates have said that the suspects were innocent fishermen. The men in question were captured by US naval soldiers who came to rescue MV Safinat Al-Basarat, an Indian boat, which together with its 16 crew members, was allegedly being highjacked by the Somalis. "Our sons and brothers were not hooded men committing sinful acts. They were on a fishing trip in Somalia's territorial waters," claimed a man interviewed by a local FM Radio station.

Thousands of people have fled the northern and northeastern suburbs of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, since clashes between militia groups started over the weekend, a top city official said. An estimated 1,500 families had been displaced by the continuing clashes, Mogadishu Mayor, Ibrahim Omar Shaaweye, told IRIN early this week. Some 25 people had been killed and 150 wounded, he added.

In Somalia, national laws, policies and procedures are not favourable to the rights of women and there is no framework to address widespread Violence Against Women (VAW). This article, from Strategic Initiatives for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network, which comprises 28 member organisations and advocates for social change and gender equality for women in the Horn of Africa, assesses the extent of the problem and suggests solutions.

Ravaged by 15 years of war and periods of anarchy, Somalia is a prime example of how women become the main victims of violence in conflict-ridden areas. Violence against women in the form of rape, torture, looting and forced displacement are tools of war for the humiliation and control of communities living in certain areas.

The governmental instability has ensured that Somalia continually fails to interact with the African Commission regarding political, social or economical affairs. To date, Somalia remains one of the countries refusing to sign the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Male dominance is an accepted norm in Somalia, and women are consistently undermined within society. The patriarchal Somali culture regards violence against women (VAW) on a family basis to be a private matter. Research conducted by UNICEF highlights the alarming reality that the physical punishment of women within family homes is not considered to be a violation by Somali communities. Although gender based violence is condemned widely by all sectors of society, there is a misconception as to what really constitutes VAW in Somalia.

Having asked a number of citizens 'How common is violence in your family?', the results show that the majority of people believe that violence is a rare to non-existent occurrence within Somali family life, and 75% of those questioned believe that sexual assault does not happen in Somalia.

Sexual harassment is prevalent throughout all sectors of society, but women continue to hide these abuses to prevent hostility or shame. Rape is common, and fear is widespread, but due to the impunity created by male dominance, perpetrators of sexual harassment are rarely punished. To safeguard the family's honour, some girls are forced to marry the men who raped them. In other cases, 'blood compensation' is given to the family of the victim (usually in the form of livestock or money). This never reaches the girl, but instead is handed to the male elders of the family, most commonly the father.

National Laws, policies and procedures do little to protect the rights of women. During the periods in which Somalia was left stateless, clan-based Islamic courts were established as a means of keeping law and order, but they concentrated mainly on family law. Even now, the newly appointed Somali Federal Government is not operational in many sections of the country, and no specific policies regarding VAW have been addressed. Official authorities, regardless of their responsibilities, constantly abuse the rights of women, and women in detention centres are often raped by custodians.

Some civil society organisations have filled this breach in setting policies and procedures relating to VAW. Medical support and counselling services are carried out by women and human rights organisations, but there remains no shelter for abused victims.

Of a total 694 cases of violations of women's rights carried out in the past 6 months, 36 cases have been fully investigated. All the rest remain pending and no investigation has been done. Research was conducted into the victims of sexual assault in Somalia, and of those involved in the research, 60% were physically harmed, 20% died as a result of the assault, and a further 10% committed suicide. More than half of the perpetrators were never found, and of those charged, many suffered no consequences. Even though many cases of rape are confirmed, the majority of the population still deny its existence.

In some instances, Somali women can be considered as the perpetrators of violence against their own sex, with specific regard to the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This harmful practice is known to cause severe bleeding, urine retention, and in some cases, death. The procedures of FGM cause lifelong physical suffering for many women, yet mothers continue to subject their daughters to this horrific practice.

The majority of Somali women agree that all girls should be circumcised and that female circumcision is a part of Islamic practice. Moreover, they believe that an uncircumcised girl is unfit for marriage. A shocking 98% of Somali women continue to be circumcised, with 90% of those being subjected to the Pharaonic (also called Infibulation) method. The less radical form of circumcision, known as Sunna in Somalia (also referred to as Clitoridectomy), is mainly practiced in coastal towns.

To eradicate FGM from the cultural practices of Somalia, awareness and knowledge must be widely disseminated. Heads of families, religious leaders and FGM practitioners need to be informed that FGM is a crime against women, and should not be condoned under the guise of 'cultural or Islamic practice'.

Similarly, awareness needs to be raised amongst Somali communities about VAW in general. Some media programmes have been implemented by human rights organisations to raise community awareness about VAW. In addition, articles have been published in daily papers and information has been broadcasted on local radios. However, there remains plenty to be done in terms of eradicating VAW from the cultural practices of Somalia. Support strategies need to be put in place, training of human rights activists is essential, and pressure needs to be placed on the Somali government to sign international and regional instruments, like CEDAW.

* This article was compiled by Strategic Initiatives for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) Network from information from the Kalsan Organisation's 2005 Country Report on VAW. SIHA, which means 'The Outcry' in Arabic, is a network of civil society organisations from North and South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Somaliland. Founded in 1995 by a collection of women's groups with the view of strengthening their capacity, SIHA has grown over the years and is now comprised of 28 member organisations. SIHA is advocating for social change and gender equality for women in the Horn of Africa, insisting that Violence against Women (VAW) in all its forms must be stopped. We are also involved in Peace Building and in promoting women, girls' and Human Rights. More information www.sihahornofafrica.org

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Somalia’s top leaders have confirmed that the country’s transitional parliament will hold its first joint meeting on Somali soil in the south-central town of Baidoa, 240 km southwest of the capital, Mogadishu, on 26 February. Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed told reporters on Monday (February 13) that he had agreed with Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi and parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden that the parliament would meet as planned.

Bossaso is not only the chief commercial port of Puntland, a self-declared autonomous area in north-east Somalia, but also one of the world's busiest smuggling hubs. Guns, cigarettes and drugs come in; people go out. For at least three years, thousands of Somalis, and increasingly, Ethiopians, have set off from the coastline in tiny open fishing boats hoping to reach Yemen. From there many hope to move on to work illegally in Saudi Arabia, which looms large in the local imagination as a land of riches.

Preparations for a meeting of Somalia's interim parliament in Baidoa have begun, following a decision by the president and the speaker to convene the house inside Somalia for the first time since it was created in neighbouring Kenya in 2004. Francois Lonseny Fall, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, welcomed the decision to convene parliament, describing it as "a very positive development".

At a meeting on 5 January in Aden, Yemen, Somalia's parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden and interim president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed agreed to set aside their differences that had divided the country's fledgling administration. Their agreement has paved way for Somalia’s first parliamentary session in 15 years, scheduled for 26 February in Baidoa. During the interview the Parliamentary speaker said "I would like for parliament to meet and do its work and start dealing with the issues that affect the people. I want us to discuss the issue of security, particularly that of Mogadishu. I would like to see security established and Mogadishu stabilised, the government and parliament operating from there in three months."

Extreme drought has hit Somalia hard, leaving 1.75 million people in need of help, an agency monitoring food availability in the Horn of Africa country warned. The crisis is especially severe in southern Somalia, where up to 30% of the cattle have died from lack of food and water, according to the Food Security Analysis Unit Somalia, which works with the United Nations and various aid groups, reports Boston.com News.

A boat carrying 110 Somali and Ethiopian migrants destined for Yemen went missing after leaving the northeastern coast of Somalia early this week according to sources in the port of Bosasso. No news has been heard from the missing boat, which was one of six vessels en route across the Gulf of Aden. The travelers had paid between US $30 and $50 each for the voyage to Yemen, which would be the point of departure in their search for work in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

A report by the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks contends that politically and socially, little changed in 2005 for Somalia, a nation of approximately 7 million. Having suffered a 14-year civil war, most of its citizens were optimistic that the year following the creation of a transitional federal government (TFG)would herald substantive change. Continued bickering within the TFG, however, dashed the hopes of many Somalis that the years of anarchy and chaos were coming to an end.

As the new transitional parliament is set to convene for the first time on Somalia’s soil, a severe drought affecting the south of the country puts additional strains on the capacity of the Somali people to cope with the effects of civil war and massive internal displacement. “The drought hit southern Somalia just when prospects for the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes due to the ongoing insecurity have begun to lighten up somewhat with the re-establishment of government authority and increased international attention on the displacement crisis,” said Toril Brekke, acting Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Somalia, has run short of food after attempts to buy food from Kenya failed.According to the agency's Somalia deputy country director Leo van der Velden, they had planned to buy 2,000 metric tonne of food to feed one million starving Somalis.This has failed due to the famine in Kenya.

Rival political leaders from Somalia are reported to have reached an agreement to reunify the country after 15 years of factional division. The talks, taking place in Yemen, have been led by Somalia's president and the parliamentary speaker, allied to armed militias controlling the capital. Officials say President Abdullahi Yusuf has agreed in principle to move the central government to Mogadishu.

Only one out of every five children in Somalia is enrolled in primary school, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in its State of the World's Children report for 2006. Somali children are further disadvantaged by disease, conflict and harsh environmental conditions, the agency added. "The net primary attendance ratio is lower than anywhere in the world, at just 12 percent for boys and 10 percent for girls," the report said. "Years of underinvestment have left Somalia lagging behind the rest of the developing world in education."