Barack Obama’s incoming administration could be stuck on the horn of a security dilemma in the strategic but unstable horn of Africa. A widening Somali crisis which has variously challenged both George Bush I and the Clinton Administrations, with disastrous consequences, now confronts Obama with the specter of “Blackhawk down” in Mogadishu.

Exploring Somalia’s fate under the Bush administration’s war on terror, Matthew Blood argues that the US has simply taken an already brutalised people and brutalised them even more. With warlordism, criminality, and piracy ever increasing, the author ponders whether the marked anti-Western sentiment and greater radicalisation of Islamic authority in the country will lead to violent future backlash within locations in the West from disaffected Somalis.

The top United Nations envoy to Somalia has welcomed the return of an opposition leader, who took part in reconciliation talks with the strife-torn Horn of Africa nation’s Government, to the capital Mogadishu. The Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, characterized the return after a nearly two-year absence of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who heads the Alliance of the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), as “a most welcome development.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has told parliament African Union peacekeepers in Somalia want to leave. He said Ethiopian troops, due to pull out of Somalia at the end of the month, would cover their withdrawal. The AU force, from Uganda and Burundi, had been expected to stay and even beef up its presence to make up for the planned Ethiopian pull-out.

The European Union's defence ministers launched on 10 November 2008 an anti-piracy mission called "Atalanta" off the coast of Somalia. The bloc claims that the goal of the enterprise is "to escort the World Food Programme's humanitarian convoys to Somalia and to contribute to the improvement of maritime security off the Somali coast as part of the European Union's overall action to stabilise Somalia."

Women in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, north-eastern Somalia, are calling for greater representation in the region's parliament in the upcoming elections to reflect their role in society. Asha Gelle, the Puntland Minister of Women and Family Affairs, told IRIN on 3 December that women were demanding "to be represented at the table where decisions are made. This time around we want to make sure that our rights and interests are represented."

Without an effective response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Somalia, the population there could face "total destitution", said Mark Bowden, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, warning that "this is now a make or break year for Somalia".

Thousands of people are fleeing parts of the northeastern region of Mandera and neighbouring Somali border areas after Kenya beefed up its security presence to counter possible threats from Somali armed groups. "At least 1,500 families [9,000 people] have left Elwak [an area in Mandera] and its environs," Titus Mung’ou, Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) public relations officer, told IRIN.

Ethiopia said on Friday it would withdraw its troops from Somalia by the end of this year, piling pressure on Somalia's feuding government and African nations that had promised to send peacekeepers. Addis Ababa has sent thousands of soldiers to support Somalia's Western-backed interim administration, whose divisions have hindered its battle against Islamist militants waging an Iraq-style insurgency.

Rival Somali politicians have agreed to double the size of the parliament to bring in opposition representatives. The agreement at talks in neighbouring Djibouti is part of a UN-sponsored reconciliation process aimed at ending nearly two decades of conflict. Two hundred new seats in parliament will be allocated to an opposition alliance, and 75 will be reserved for civil society groups.

The uproar over pirates off the Gulf of Aden has led the German government to contribute a naval frigate to an EU mission along the Somali coast. More soldiers may be on the way. In the meantime German helicopters have defended a pair of merchant ships from pirate speedboats.

At least 15 people have been killed after insurgents attacked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say. Heavily armed men were repulsed after they attacked the house of district commissioner Ahmed Da'i just after dawn prayers, resident Ahmed Mumin said.

Islamist rebels moved on Friday into a small town on the outskirts of Somalia's capital near a checkpoint manned by Ethiopian troops, sparking fears among residents of renewed fighting. This week's advance by al Shabaab militants towards the capital Mogadishu is a potential setback for a fledgling U.N.-brokered peace process to end 17 years of conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.

On the fifth day of every month a group of women entrepreneurs gather to share their experiences and discuss matters of trade. What makes this exceptional is that the women are from south-central Somalia and they meet in Mogadishu, one of the world's most devastated and dangerous cities.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has deplored last week’s stoning to death of a 13-year-old Somali girl who was a victim of rape. Aisha Duhulow was stoned to death in a stadium full of spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo on 27 October after authorities found her guilty of adultery.

Horn of Africa leaders attending a regional summit have lashed out at Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) for failing to restore peace and order in the war-torn country."Failed they have, as can easily be seen in the lack of progress in all areas in government. This is the truth that neither the Transitional Federal Government authorities, nor we, can sweep under the rug," Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister and IGAD chairman told the Oct. 29 summit.

A woman in Somalia has been stoned to death after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery. The woman was buried up to her neck and then pelted to death with stones in front of a large crowd in Kismayo.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of three journalists who have been held by kidnappers in Somalia for almost two months. Canadian Amanda Lindhout, Australian Nigel Brenan and Somali Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi were abducted on August 23 near the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The IFJ is extremely concerned about their safety after reports that their kidnappers threatened to kill Lindhout and Brennan if a $2.5 million (1.8 million Euros) ransom is not paid.

More than 26,000 people displaced from southern Somalia to Somaliland are not receiving adequate assistance because officials in the region, which regards itself as an independent country, give priority to those displaced within Somaliland. "We have a different definition of IDPs [internally displaced persons] compared with the international community because the international community regards the displaced from southern Somalia as IDPs but we regard them as refugees," Ali Ibrahim, Somaliland's minister for planning and national coordination, told IRIN.

An additional 5,500 people have been displaced this week from the capital of strife-torn Somalia, the United Nations reported today, bringing the total number of those uprooted by fighting between Government forces and Islamic insurgents since 21 September to over 61,000.