Somali woman shines in military training program

IBANDA, Uganda (AP) -- A military instructor clad in fatigues and boots who barks out orders to men half her age has become the unlikely star of a European Union program to train thousands of Somali troops.


Nearly 98 percent of the trainees in the six-month class being held in a remote Ugandan village are men, but it is 40-year-old Fatuma Hassan Noor, who returned for advanced training, who often gets mentioned in discussions of what the program can be proud of after its mandate expires in December.


Western governments are injecting millions of dollars into a program that they hope will contribute to the stabilization of Somalia, and officials stationed here hope dedicated students like Noor, when they finally return home, can prove that the money was not wasted.


Col. Michael Beary, an Irish officer who is in charge of the training mission, said he is not sending soldiers back to Somalia to defeat the militant group al-Shabab. Beary said he is instead trying to create disciplined soldiers who will return home with "a different attitude."


The 608 Somali soldiers in the current class are being trained on good citizenship, women's rights and how to stop gender-based violence, as well as weapons training, first aid, mine detection and communication during battle.


The 60 trainers in the village of Ibanda come from 12 European countries. The program has already trained 1,800 Somalis since 2010. The trainers say the mission is a small but vital contribution toward the creation of a professional army.

Somalia creates new state, Azania

Somali politicians on Sunday announced the creation of a new state in the battle-scarred nation, a move condemned by Somalia's fragile government, which said it could further fracture the already chaotic Horn of Africa country.

The creation of Azania was celebrated Sunday in a colorful ceremony in Kenya's capital. Its creation brings the total number of new states to more than 10.

Kenya supports the new administration as it creates a buffer zone near its border with Somalia.

Azania President Mohamed Abdi Gandhi said his first duty is to retake his territory from al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab.

"Our aim of establishing this administration is to first liberate these regions," he said. "We are not breaking away from Somalia."

Autism fears, measles spike among Minn. Somalis

Health officials struggling to contain a measles outbreak that's hit hard in Minneapolis' large Somali community are running into resistance from parents who fear the vaccine could give their children autism.

Fourteen confirmed measles cases have been reported in Minnesota since February. Half have been in Somali children, six of whom were not vaccinated and one who was not old enough for shots. State officials have linked all but one of the cases to an unvaccinated Somali infant who returned from a trip to Kenya in February. The state had reported zero or one case of measles a year for most of the past decade.

Amid the outbreak, a now-discredited British researcher who claimed there was a link between vaccines and autism has been meeting with local Somalis. Some worry Andrew Wakefield is stoking vaccination fears, but organizers say the meetings were merely a chance for parents to ask him questions.

"Unfortunately a lot of the media thinks he's saying 'Don't get vaccinated.' That's far from the truth. He's basically encouraging people to get vaccinated but do your homework and know the risks," said Wayne Rohde, a co-founder of the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota, which says parents should have other options for immunizing their children.

Measles has been all but eradicated in the United States, but accounts for about 200,000 annual deaths worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of those infected in Minnesota have died, though eight have required hospitalization.

The infections come as autism concerns have surged over an apparent rise in cases in Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the U.S. Officials, though, haven't determined if that's really happening.

The Minnesota Department of Public Health found in 2009 that young Somali children in Minneapolis public schools were over-represented in autism programs, but cautioned that alone didn't prove a higher rate of autism. The CDC and National Institutes of Health are working with the advocacy group Autism Speaks on a more systematic study.

Somali journalists arrested by government

An editor of a Somali radio station says the government has detained two journalists from his organization for allegedly reporting inaccuracies of fighting between government forces and Islamist insurgents.

Mohamed Bashir Hashi, the deputy editor of the independently owned Radio Shabelle, said Sunday that the stations editor Abdi Mohamed Ismael and director Abdirashid Omar Qase are being detained at the Central Investigations Department by intelligence officers.

Bashir said the two had been summoned by Somali intelligence to be questioned on a report aired by the station last week that heavy fighting between insurgents and government prevented Somalia's president from touring the front line to speaks to the soldiers. Somalia has been mired in war since 1991.

AU peacekeeping force in Somali to expand by 4,000

The military chiefs of Uganda and Burundi say that their countries are in the process of deploying 4,000 additional troops to the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Burundi's Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare and Uganda's Gen. Aronda Nyakairima said in a statement released late Saturday that each country has committed to give 2,000 additional soldiers and Burundi has already deployed a battalion.

They say that the current force of 8,000 AU peacekeepers supporting Somalia's weak-U.N. backed government was making progress in reoccupying territories held by the Islamist insurgents and is in control of 60 percent of the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia has been mired in violence since 1991 since warlord topple longtime dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other

Somali official: American militant reported killed

Somalia's defense minister says intelligence reports indicate that an American from Alabama who joined the militant group al-Shabab has been killed.

Somali Defense Minister Abdihakim Mohamud Haji Fiqi told The Associated Press that the information has not been confirmed. Fiqi says officials don't have a body but have received intelligence reports indicating the American is dead.

Omar Hammami has been featured rapping in al-Shabab recruitment videos that have been posted online. Hammami joined the Somali militants in 2007 while he was in his early 20s. He had taken on the nom de guerre of Abumansur Al-Amriki.

Somali and African Union troops launched an offensive late last month that has resulted in a spike in fighting in Mogadishu.

Somali president claims victory in war with rebels

Somalia's president claimed victory over Islamist insurgents Monday although it was far from clear that the militia has been defeated.

Forces nominally allied with the government have taken control of two border towns in recent days and on Monday residents said the insurgents had abandoned two more towns. African Union peacekeepers and government soldiers have also wrested three key positions from insurgent control after heavy fighting in the capital of Mogadishu.

Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told reporters in the capital that the militant group al-Shabab were on the verge of defeat.

"Our victories are consecutive and our troops continue to defeat the enemy," said the president, dressed in military fatigue. He called for the "final elimination" of al-Shabab and said "we are confident that good changes will happen soon and that the enemy suffered to a great extent."

Somalia pro-government forces retake border town

A Somali official says pro-government forces have retaken a border town from Islamist militants after several hours of fighting.

Sharif Abdiwahid Sharif Aden, a spokesman for the pro-government militiamen, said Saturday that his forces wrested control of Belet Hawo, which borders Kenya, from al-Shabab militants.

Al-Shabab officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Belet Hawo's capture is part of an ongoing government-led offensive aimed at ending Islamist militants' grip on large swaths of the country's south and central regions.

Meanwhile, the African Union force propping up Somalia's government said it killed suicide bombers riding in a jeep who tried to attack its base at the former defense ministry building in the capital, Mogadishu.