Journalists in the Somali capital have for the first time announced the launch of the Federation of Somali journalists that brings together all the existing media groups in and an outside the country as well as journalists individually. The launch of FESOJ, calls upon all relevant stakeholders and most prominently the Government of Somalia and the rebel groups to respect and promote the rights of the journalists and the freedom of the expression.

At least 20 people have been killed and 70 others injured in a series of street battles in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, sources say. Shells fired by African Union (AU) peacekeepers hit Bakara market, in central Mogadishu, during Thursday's fighting, Al Jazeera has learned.

Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, Somalia's prime minister, has resigned after a prolonged dispute with Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the country's president. Sharmarke said on Tuesday he "resigned as the prime minister of the transitional federal government of Somalia after being unable to work with the president". The federal government has failed to end a three-year insurgency by hardline Muslim fighters who now control much of the capital and huge chunks of south and central Somalia.

On Sunday 19 September, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam extremists forcibly looted two independent radio stations, HornAfrik and Global Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), in Mogadishu. The two radio stations are independent and are based in the capital. The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has condemned the two attacks by the Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam extremist groups. "This is unacceptable and amounts to the highest degree of media freedom violation," said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ secretary-general.

Earlier this year, 25-year-old Adam Osman Abdile received an ultimatum from Somalia's Al Shabaab: join the militia or die. He decided to flee to Kenya. The journey nearly killed him, but it is one that many young men are willing to risk in Somalia and other countries in eastern Africa to escape persecution or violence.

Article 19 has called on the government of Somalia to amend the media law based on proposals by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and recommendations made by ARTICLE 19 in a legal analysis released on 13 September. Somalia’s 2007 adoption of the Media Law raised serious concerns for media freedom. The law subjects all media to a largely government-controlled regulatory regime.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposed a new international anti-piracy plan in August, but with rich countries after the oil and fish reserves of Somalia’s internationally recognised waters, Abdulkadir Salad Elmi wants to know who the real pirates are.

In conversation with Zahra Moloo, Mohamed Abshir Waldo discusses

UNHCR is alarmed by the further deterioration in the situation in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Partners report that fighting over the past two weeks between the transitional government and al-Shabaab has cost more than 230 civilian lives with at least 400 people wounded and 23,000 displaced. So far this year over 200,000 civilians are estimated to have fled their homes.

The United Nations has voiced its strong condemnation after Friday's terrorist attack at the main airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which has killed two African peacekeepers and several civilians. In a joint statement, the heads of the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) described the attack as a “heinous act of terrorism.”

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns the brutal murder of journalist Abdullahi Omar Gedi of Radio Daljir, who was stabbed to death in Galkayo District of Mudug region around 8pm of Tuesday 31 August 2010.

Five years after a local charity opened a university to offer this bullet-scarred city’s youth an alternative to militia life and emigration, the first degrees have been awarded. "I want our people to know that education is the ladder of life and that every step of development that a community makes depends on the level of the community's education," one of the 27 new graduates, Qoole Qowden*, recounted.

Civilians, especially women, tend to bear the brunt of armed conflicts across the world, particularly in Somalia, where Islamist insurgents are fighting a weak government propped up by African Union forces. Several women in Mogadishu told IRIN about the day-to-day reality of living in a warzone.

US officials have charged 14 people with providing money, personnel and services to the Somali militant group al-Shabab. The charges stem from four separate indictments in the US states of Minnesota, Alabama and California. Concerns about al-Shabab have grown after the group carried out a bomb attack in Uganda.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a journalist. More than 30 reporters have been killed by armed groups since 1992 - including nine in 2009. The most recent journalist killing occurred on 4 May 2010, when three gunmen shot dead broadcast journalist Sheik Nur Mohamed Abkey as he was returning home from the state-run Radio Mogadishu. Members of the armed opposition group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killing.

Renewed fighting in Mogadishu and other areas of Somalia since May 2009 has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and also exacerbated the already desperate humanitarian situation of existing internally displaced people (IDPs), in particular the children and women among them. About 200,000 people have been displaced since January 2010, in addition to the estimated 1.5 million who remained displaced at the end of 2009. In Somaliland, thousands of families were displaced as a result of fighting between ‘government’ forces and a new rebel group.

The UN refugee agency has urged Saudi Arabia to stop deporting Somalis, saying 2,000 people have recently been sent to Mogadishu. The UNHCR says those forced back to the Somali capital are at risk. There is almost daily fighting there between Islamist militants and government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers.

Following the al-Shabaab bombing in Kampala, current plans to send more AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) troops into Somalia will simply jeopardise the possibility of a new moderate leadership emerging in the country, writes Abena Ampofoa Asare. Observers in the African Union, UN and international community at large would do well to look at Somaliland to the north, the author stresses. Solutions to Somalia’s civil war will not emerge in Kampala, Washington DC or Addis Ababa, Asare contends, underlining that a key lesson of Somaliland’s experience is that ‘effective government must come from within’.

Although this morning started with relative serenity, residents in Mogadishu’s eastern districts witnessed some of the most intensive confrontations in the past months. Clashes between fighters loyal to Al-Shabaab, the most radical Islamist group opposing the Transitional Federal Government, and the pro-government forces that included the peacekeepers serving the African Union Mission in Somalia, Amisom, have been extremely heavy in the last three days.

Defence chiefs of staff of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have finalized a detailed plan on the deployment of 2,000 troops to Somalia, according to a press release issued in Addis Ababa. It said at the end of their three-day meeting, the military chiefs and architects from member countries of the East African grouping deliberated on the creation of a central command for Somali security forces; who should contribute what and how many of the troops; when they should be ready for deployment; how and when the African Union (AU) should provide the logistics the forces need; and the establishment of a Joint Command.