Heavy fighting has erupted in central Somalia between a pro-government Sufi Muslim group and Islamist hardliners. At least 10 people have been killed in fighting near the town of Webho. The clashes come after the Sufi Ahlu Sunna Waljamea sect pledged to defend President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed at a meeting of moderate Islamic leaders.

A radio producer was gunned down last week in crossfire in Mogadishu, while another journalist died on 26 May from gunshot wounds suffered while covering fighting in central Somalia in April. They are the third and fourth journalists to be killed in Somalia this year, report the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Insufficient cheaper alternatives and a large former refugee population are fuelling tree-felling and dependence on charcoal in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, adversely affecting the environment, say analysts. Most urban households use charcoal for everyday cooking. "We use a sack of charcoal every four days because our family is large," said Zahra Omar, a mother of 12, in the capital, Hargeisa.

The Somaliland political parties have signed an agreement with the Electoral Commission to fix an election date in the Horn of Africa state. The agreement which is derived from a series of negotiations among the political parties and the electoral committee, saw all parties agreeing to 27 September 2009 as the official day for the polls.

The number of Somalis fleeing the latest escalation of fighting in and around Mogadishu has surpassed 67,000, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today, adding that worsening security has also hampered aid delivery to the capital. Intense fighting between the Government and the opposition Al-Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups erupted in several north-west areas of Mogadishu on 8 May.

Defence ministers on 18 May discussed a French proposal to enhance the EU naval operation fighting piracy off the Somali coasts with a police training mission in the African country that could start in September. "There was a French proposal discussed today on a police training mission in Somalia, but no decision was taken yet," Czech minister of defence Martin Bartak told a press conference after the meeting.

Despite a lull in clashes between Government forces and insurgents in the Somali capital, the number of people who have fled Mogadishu in the past 12 days has climbed to 45,000, the United Nations refugee agency has reported.

Ethiopian military forces have crossed back into Somalia, four months after leaving, witnesses told the BBC. Their reported return comes as Islamist militants continue to seize towns from the fragile Western-backed government. One resident said he saw Ethiopian troops digging trenches in Kalabeyr, a town 22km (14 miles) from the Somali-Ethiopian border.

The UN refugee agency says the number of people fleeing the Somali capital in the last 12 days has now risen to 45,000 despite the lull in fighting in the war-ravaged nation. A statement from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday said a significant proportion of the displaced are heading towards the Afgooye corridor, southwest of Mogadishu.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the threats and intimidations against journalists in Somalia after the head of an Islamic militia group in Somalia warned journalists against reports which are critical of the movement. “We condemn this climate of terror and intimidation against journalists in Somalia,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “It is against press freedom and ethical journalism to interfere in journalists’ work.”

UNHCR is deeply concerned about the week-long clashes in the Somali capital Mogadishu that have claimed many civilian lives and sparked a new wave of displacement. The latest fighting, some of the heaviest seen in Mogadishu this year, between forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government and opposition groups, erupted last week and have so far claimed the lives of more than 135 people and 315 injured, while dislocating an estimated 30,000 people.

The availability of water purification tablets, digging of shallow wells in rural areas as well as privatisation of water services have resulted in more people in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland gaining access to clean water and proper sanitation, officials said. At least 45-50 percent of the Somaliland population now has access to safe water, compared with 35 percent in 2000, according to Ali Sheikh Omar Qabil, director of environmental health in the Ministry of Health and Labour.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of three journalists and the reopening of the private radio Jubbaa in Baidoa, Somalia. “The attacks on press freedom are becoming worse and worse in this country, especially with the Al Shabaab militia who have being doing everything to stifle the media” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office, “the new government should take the necessary measures to protect journalists in order to guarantee press freedom and freedom of expression”.

Somalia won pledges of over $200 million from international donors on Thursday,23 April, to support increased security within the country.A total of $213 million (€165m) was committed at a joint United-Nations, European Union and African Union donors' conference in Brussels, with the European Commission pledging €72 million of the figure.

Donor governments meeting in Brussels this week should ensure that pledges of assistance to Somali security forces and African Union troops in Somalia will not contribute to human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch has said.

Six aid agencies have urged the Obama administration to consider humanitarian needs in its policy review on Somalia. As the latest piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia capture the world's attention, humanitarian organizations warned that the country remains in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis. More than three million people are in need of emergency assistance inside the country and half a million Somali refugees have fled to neighboring countries.

As the latest piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia grab headlines and international donors meet in Brussels to discuss the security situation, attention and funding must not be diverted from the humanitarian crisis facing hundreds of thousands of Somalis, says the International Rescue Committee.

The United Nations refugee agency has voiced concern that some 60,000 people uprooted by violence in Somalia have returned to its volatile capital since the beginning of the year. The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is not encouraging the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Mogadishu due to an unstable security situation and a lack of basic services.

Hodan* spends most of her afternoons sitting outside her tiny house in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, blowing fruity smoke from a hookah pipe, her face covered in a green paste to help her skin look its best. She does not trawl the streets looking for customers; most of her clients make appointments to visit her at home. In this conservative Muslim country, commercial sex work is practised out of sight. Hodan says not even her neighbours know how she makes a living and if they ever found out, she is sure they would evict her immediately.

SOCFEX condemns the arbitrary detention of Jama Ayanle Fayte, freelance reporter of Lasqorey website and the subsequent sentencing to two years today by the regional court of Puntland. A regional court in semi autonomous state of Puntland has sentenced Mr. Jama Ayanle Fayte of Lasqorey.net – a Somali news website after has been accused of publishing unfounded reports that the authorities deemed as false. The interior minister pressed the charges against Mr. Fayte who appeared the court without defense lawyer.