The warring sides in the southern town of Baidoa have officially signed a ceasefire document, local sources told IRIN on Wednesday. They said the ceasefire, which was arranged by a mediation committee and announced over the weekend, has been observed by both sides, even before it was officially signed. Fighting between rival factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls much of Bay and Bakol regions in southwestern Somalia, erupted last week.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday confirmed that the planned Somali peace talks to be held under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are now scheduled to take place in September.

Fresh fighting erupted in the town of Baidoa on Thursday in which at least 20 people were killed, local sources told IRIN. The fighting between two factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls much of the Bay and
Bakol regions of southwestern Somalia, started at 09:00a.m. local time (06:00 GMT) "and is still continuing", the sources said.

This is a challenging position where the postholder will be responsible for ensuring the implementation of SC UK's education project in 18 rural schools in the Belet Weyne district in Hiran, Somalia. The focus of the project is to improve the access and quality of primary education for children in rural Belet Weyne, and this will be achieved through increasing and providing access to appropriate, participatory and affordable primary education to boys and girls of mixed abilities and social backgrounds.

Heavy fighting has flared up between rival militiamen from two clans in and around the Golol Valley, about 270 kilometers Northeast of the central town of Galkaio last Wednesday. This new round of fighting broke out just a day after an agreement was reached over conflict between the same two subclans in Gellinsor village, about 90 kilometers south of Galkaio town.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has transferred up to 1,043 Somali refugees, who have been stranded for weeks in the northeastern Kenyan border town of Mandera, to the Dadaab refugee camp 500 km to the south. The refugees are part of a group of 10,000 who fled inter-clan fighting in the Somali town of Bulo Hawa near the border with Kenya starting in April, and have been camped in and around Mandera under difficult conditions.

Somali Telecom's Ed Resor has an interesting story to tell. He helped the Eritreans get international connectivity at the end of the war with Ethiopia and created similar telecomms links for Somalia. He's also recently invested in the Congo (DRC). It sounds like he always invests in former war zones but he assured us in this interview in New York that he's looking for places where people think it can't be done because they are either too small or too difficult.

Heavy fighting broke out Monday between rival militiamen in the very fertile Middle Shabelle region of southern Somalia. The fighting is between the supporters of the interior minister of the transitional national government Dahir Dayah and those of warlord Mohamed Dhere controlling Jowhar town, the capital city of Middle Shabelle region.

The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have banned the establishment of private radio stations, the official Radio Hargeysa reported on Tuesday. A circular issued by the Somaliland information ministry said that until broadcasting regulations were laid down, there would be no private radio stations because of the "potential dangers" of such operations. "No other voice can be heard on the air waves except Radio Hargeysa, which is the national voice," the statement said.

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed "grave concern" over the situation of refugees in the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera where disease and malnutrition have claimed the lives of 10 Somali refugees. The refugees - estimated at between 3,500 and 5,000 - fled to the northeastern Kenyan town of Mandera in April from inter-clan fighting in Bulo Hawa, just across the border in Somalia.

At least 60 people have died in the latest fighting in Mogadishu, with hundreds wounded, local sources told IRIN on Tuesday. The bloodiest fighting in Somalia in the last few years erupted on Tuesday morning after militia, reportedly loyal to Mogadishu faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, clashed with forces of the Transitional National Government (TNG) in north Mogadishu, "in the same general area where clashes between the two sides occurred last Friday [24 May]", Muhammad Tahlil, a north Mogadishu resident, told IRIN.

Reporters Without Borders protested today against the shutting down of the privately-owned Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) by the authorities of the Somali region of Puntland and called for the measure to be reversed at once.

The instability and power vacuum created by the collapse of the Somali state poses the greatest danger to the outside world and to Somalia itself, according to a new report by the Brussels-based think tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG). In a press release to launch the report, the ICG said Somalia was one of the world's chief examples of a failed state. "Its highly fragmented internal security situation and the competing agendas of its neighbours have raised concerns that it may again become a base for international terrorism," the organisation said.

The Kenyan authorities have asked the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to relocate about
10,000 Somali refugees who have been living in the northeastern Kenyan
border town of Mandera, the Nairobi-based Sunday Standard reported on 12
May. The Mandera district commissioner, Jamleck Baruga, was quoted by the
paper as saying he had met UNHCR officials, who told him they would comply.

Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, was reported to be calm
and returning to normal last Thursday, a day after it had fallen without a fight to forces of Col Abdullahi Yusuf, a local journalist told IRIN.

The United Nations announced on Tuesday that it was
suspending all activities in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with effect from
Tuesday 9 May, a press release issued the same day by the office of UN
Resident Humanitarian Coordinator stated. According to the statement the action was taken after kidnappers refused to release an abducted UN staff member.

The UN Security Council has proposed setting up a panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo on Somalia. In a resolution, adopted on Friday, it called on the Secretary-General to set up a two-member team that would prepare a plan of action detailing the necessary resources and expertise for such a panel.

Thousands of people have fled, or are fleeing, their homes in the Gedo region of southwestern Somalia because of fighting between rival groups, local sources told IRIN on Thursday. They have been streaming out of the border towns of Bulo Hawa, and Lugh, despite the onset of the main Gu season rains.

5 months after sanctions against the Somali company, several American officials said the government has only limited evidence of a direct tie between Al Barakaat and Al Qaeda. One senior official said the information came from a single source.

UNDP Somalia has helped pave the way for Wells Fargo & Co. in the US to delay a decision to close down the accounts of Dahabshil, Somalia's largest remaining money transfer company. UNDP has developed an action plan to help such Somali companies comply with international financial rules to avoid closure, which could cause great hardship to thousands of Somalis who depend on remittances from abroad for their livelihoods.