Kenya says to lift Somalia flight ban from July 8
NAIROBI, July 5 (Reuters) - Kenya said on Saturday it would lift an anti-terror ban on flights to and from Somalia that has drawn criticism from aid agencies, saying it was satisfied security had improved.

Kenya, which has seen several major attacks blamed on Muslim militants in recent years, imposed the ban on June 21, saying it feared people planning new strikes could board flights from neighbouring Somalia.MORE

Somali leaders agree on transitional govt, parliament NAIROBI, 5 July 2003 (AFP) - Somali leaders attending a peace conference in Nairobi on Saturday agreed to establish a federal government which will rule the Horn of Africa country for the next four years.

"We have agreed to form a transitional federal government and a transitional parliament of 351 members during the four-year period," Ahmed Awad Ashra, justice minister in northeast Somalia's state of Puntland, said after emerging from the session. MORE

SOMALIA: Faction leaders' cooperation on landmines praised
NAIROBI, 1 July 2003 (IRIN) - Somalia's faction leaders have shown encouraging support to the international community's efforts to curb the use of landmines, and to clear out mines which have been buried for years throughout the country, a Swiss-based international humanitarian organisation has said.

Lare Okungu, the Africa regional director of Geneva Call which is dedicated to landmine action, said several Somali factions had cooperated with landmine initiatives and some had even sought assistance for mine clearance in regions under their control.

"The goodwill we have seen so far is paving the way forward," Okungu told a meeting in Nairobi aimed at reviewing a landmine accord signed last November. MORE

Emirates Post opens window to Somalia money transfer
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
DUBAI, 1 July 2003 (Gulf News)--Somalis in the UAE will now be able to transfer money legally. This has been made possible under a cooperation signed by Emirates Post and Somal Post.

Prior to the cooperation, the popular mode of money transfer used by Somalis was hawala. As for delivery of mail to and from the country, it was at the mercy of international voluntary organisations in Somalia.

It was news all around the world when the Somalian money transfer company Al Barakat was closed by the FBI. MORE

SOMALIA: Thousands protest against violence
NAIROBI, 30 June 2003 (IRIN) - Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday to protest against continuing violence and abductions in the city, according to one of the organisers.

Abdullahi Muhammad Shirwa of the Civil Society in Action told IRIN on Monday that the protest, one of the largest ever seen in the city, was organised by a grouping of 46 civil society organisations. These included women's and human rights groups, professionals and "even Koranic schools".

Habibo Haji Jim'ale, a member of the Law Society of Somalia, another of the organizers told IRIN that robberies, car-jackings, kidnappings and general banditry in the city had been increasing over the last eight months. MORE