Thursday 12,June ,2025  {HMC} Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration, and Egyptian Expatriates, Badr Abdelatty, has praised the strengthening of Egyptian-Somali relations, emphasizing Cairo’s continued commitment to deepening political, economic, and security cooperation with Mogadishu.

Speaking during a meeting with Somalia’s National Security Advisor, Hussein Sheikh-Ali, on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum, Abdelatty underscored the importance of fostering enduring partnerships between the two countries.

He highlighted Egypt’s interest in expanding bilateral trade and investment, building on the momentum generated by the Egyptian-Somali Business Forum held in Cairo in January 2025.
The minister also expressed optimism that Somalia would continue to benefit from training and capacity-building programs offered by various Egyptian institutions, describing them as key pillars of cooperation.

Reaffirming Egypt’s support for regional stability, Abdelatty reiterated his country’s readiness to contribute to the African Union’s stabilization efforts in Somalia, citing Egypt’s longstanding role in supporting peace and security across the continent.

Egypt has consistently expressed its unwavering support for Somalia’s unity and territorial integrity, particularly amid recent tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia following a controversial agreement signed in January 2024 between Ethiopia and Somaliland—a self-declared, unrecognized state.

The agreement, which potentially grants Ethiopia access to the sea in exchange for recognizing Somaliland, was strongly rejected by Somalia as a violation of its sovereignty.

However, in December 2024, Somalia and Ethiopia reached a resolution through a mediated agreement facilitated by Ankara.

Thursday 12,June ,2025  {HMC} The Somali National Army (SNA), with support from international partners, carried out a planned military operation in the Buurta Cadayga area near El-Baraf district in the Middle Shabelle region, killing at least 13 members of the Al-Shabaab militant group.

According to a press statement issued by the Somali Ministry of Information on Wednesday, the operation specifically targeted a site used by the extremist group to plan and coordinate attacks aimed at destabilizing the local population. Among those killed were senior Al-Shabaab leaders, while several others sustained injuries.

The airstrikes also destroyed a weapons cache that had been stockpiled at the site, further degrading the group’s operational capacity.
“The Somali government remains committed to eradicating Al-Shabaab through coordinated efforts with the public and our international allies,” the ministry stated.

The operation comes amid mounting concerns over Al-Shabaab’s recent territorial gains in the Middle Shabelle region. The group has reportedly taken control of several areas, including the strategic Aden Yabaal district, where they recently released footage showing a deadly attack against government forces.

Thursday 12,June ,2025  {HMC} Somali government has formally called for the dissolution of the C6+ international coordination framework, arguing that the mechanism no longer reflects the nation’s current political and security realities.

In a letter sent on Wednesday from the Office of the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, the government stated that Somalia is no longer a country in transition but a sovereign state with functioning constitutional institutions, a maturing democratic process, and a clear national agenda for peace and development.

“Under the leadership of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia is implementing a comprehensive reform program. In this new context, the continued use of the C6+ as an external coordination tool is outdated and counterproductive,” the letter said.
The C6+ group—comprising key international donors and partners—was established in the aftermath of Somalia’s post-conflict transitional period to coordinate international political engagement. It played a central role during years of institutional fragility and external dependency.

However, State Minister Ali Omar Bal’ad emphasized that the structure’s purpose and logic have outlived their relevance. “The continued reference to C6+ in international discourse gives the misleading impression that Somalia remains under externally driven political guidance, which unjustly undermines the legitimacy and maturity of our democratic institutions,” the minister stated.

He urged international partners to engage through current and recognized frameworks, particularly bilateral cooperation, which reflect Somalia’s evolving sovereignty and governance capacity.

The letter, addressed to UN Special Representative James Swan, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), expressed gratitude to C6+ members for their long-standing support in peacebuilding, stabilization, and institutional development over the past decade. It also called for aligning future cooperation with Somalia’s existing structures and national priorities.

Despite the government’s call for its dissolution, C6+ member states and UN agencies have not yet publicly responded to the request. The move also comes at a sensitive time, coinciding with ongoing domestic political disputes over upcoming elections and national security responsibilities.

Thursday 12, June 2025 {HMC} A critical lack of healthcare services due to funding cuts has left large numbers of people living in remote parts of Somalia’s Lower Juba region unable to access the urgent medical treatment they need.

Three health centres in Badhadhe, Kulbiyow and Kudhaa villages that were supported by USAID funding have almost ceased functioning as they lack medicines and support to pay the health workers.

Dahabo Cumar Ali told Radio Ergo she took her son to the health centre in Kulbiyow, after he suffered a nail puncture wound in his foot a week ago. He needed a tetanus jab but she was unable to get him treated.

The health centre they had relied on for years ran out of supplies at the start of May. She is not able to travel elsewhere to seek treatment.

“My son was at school playing with other children when a nail pierced through his shoe. His leg swelled up to the knee. I haven’t slept for four nights as I was massaging and applying compresses to his leg, sometimes buying painkillers from town. Eventually, I took him to hospital for a tetanus shot. When I got there, there was nothing,” Dahabo said.

She has been checking back at the health centre every morning to see if any medicine supplies have arrived, as her son’s condition is getting worse. He is now bedridden and can’t go to school.

Dahabo, 47, also needed to get her own medication for bronchitis at the clinic but that too was unavailable.

“I don’t have money to buy medicine and there is no medicine here at the health centre. I asked for my bronchitis medication but they told me it’s out of stock,” she said.

The nearest functioning health centre is in Dhobley, a border town close to Kenya, more than 180 kilometres away. Recent rains have flooded many roads, making travel impossible for many even when they have money.

Dahabo is poor, and her husband makes about $2 a day working breaking stones. The family has only 10 goats that survived their larger herd due to drought. They didn’t plant on their two-hectare farm this season due to a lack of seeds.

The head of Kudhaa health centre, Abdullahi Mohamed Isman, said the facility was open but unable to deliver many services at all.

“This mirrors what many rural people are going through,” he told Radio Ergo.

“The good hope and morale of the people has been cut but people keep coming to the place where they used to get medicine. There are severe illnesses spreading around here such as flu, slightly less severe than Corona virus but heavier than the usual flu.

People are suffering greatly from that flu. There is also acute watery diarrhoea affecting adults and children. Among our neighbours, there is a lot of trouble with serious skin conditions that many people are suffering from. These diseases are spreading at a time when health centres have no medicine or funds.”

Bashir Said Diriye, a father of eight living in Kulbiyow, was forced to take his four children across the border to Haluqo in neighbouring Kenya, after they contracted malaria.

He said the trip cost him $112, which he borrowed because he could not bear to see his children suffer.

“The children all got malaria and were malnourished. They wasted away and became weak. There was no proper medicine available where I lived. Later, I took them to Haluqo and had them treated there in the middle of last month. Now the children are not suffering, they are well,” Bashir told Radio Ergo.

Despite their improvement, Bashir fears new illnesses may arise from contaminated water around and rising mosquito activity in his area after the rain.

Bashir’s family are also struggling to make ends meet. They were displaced from the rural areas of Kulbiyow in October 2023, when most of their herd of 100 goats and 30 camels died or had to be sold off. They have only 15 goats left.

His income comes from a meat stall at the Kulbiyow slaughterhouse bringing in $5 to $6 daily, though some days he gets only bones with no meat to sell.

“That’s where I get money for the children’s expenses, but sometimes we earn and sometimes we don’t it varies,” he said.

The Kulbiyow health centre, which opened in 2019, has been a lifeline in the provision of free healthcare for the community.

Local people, including those interviewed for this report, hope that the Federal Government of Somalia and the Jubbaland administration will step in to support their healthcare services.

Thursday 12, June 2025 {HMC}  The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, H.E. Abdisalam Abdi Ali, met on Wednesday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Rwanda, Amb.

Olivier Jean Patrick Nduhungirehe, on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators for the Implementation of Follow-Up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), currently underway in Changsha, Hunan Province, and discussed with him ways to enhance bilateral relations and expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

The two ministers exchanged views on strengthening cooperation around shared priorities at both bilateral and multilateral levels, emphasizing practical approaches to enhance coordination in international forums and advance joint efforts supporting sustainable development and regional stability.

Thursday 12, June 2025 {HMC} Indonesia will purchase 48 Kaan fifth-generation fighter jets from Turkey in a deal valued at more than $10bn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday.

The agreement was signed at the Indo Defence 2025 exhibition in Jakarta, which has been attended by Turkish defence firms.

The deal will span 10 years and includes the co-production of some Kaan jet components in Indonesia.

Erdogan thanked his Indonesian counterpart, Prabowo Subianto, describing the agreement as the largest defence industry export deal in Turkey’s history.

Yusuf Akbaba, a Turkish defence industry expert, said the deal is a landmark for the Kaan project, noting that Ankara would have struggled to fund the development of the fifth-generation aircraft alone.

“To reduce costs, it is essential to increase the number of orders,” Akbaba told Middle East Eye. “As the number of units increases, the per-unit price of the aircraft decreases.”

Akbaba believes Indonesia’s participation could attract interest from Islamic countries and other states in the Asian market.

“Countries like Qatar, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, and a few others are also considering acquiring the aircraft,” he said.

“After this order from Indonesia, procurement processes in those countries may also accelerate.”

Azerbaijan announced last year that it would participate in the project, while reports in January indicated that Saudi Arabia was interested in becoming a partner, although that has not yet materialised.

For Jakarta, the Kaan would help to replace its dated F-16 fleet and also fill a gap left after it parted ways with South Korea on its KF-21 project.

Experts say the KF-21 is not a genuine fifth-generation aircraft, while the Kaan features some sixth-generation capabilities, such as AI integration and drone teaming.

Turkey has been developing a fifth-generation aircraft since 2010, but the project accelerated after Ankara was removed from the F-35 programme by the US in 2019 over its purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile system.

The Kaan made its maiden flight in February 2024, temporarily using two General Electric F110-GE-129 engines, the same as those found in Turkish F-16s.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which is leading the Kaan project, is working on a locally produced engine for the aircraft.

The company aims to deliver the first plane to the Turkish Air Force by the end of 2028, although some analysts predict this might be delayed until 2030.

The first 10 Kann Block-1 fighter jets are scheduled to be delivered to the Turkish Air Force between 2030 and 2033.

By Ragip Soylu in Ankara

Thursday 12 June 2025 {HMC} Kenyan President William Ruto said on Wednesday that a blogger arrested last week had died “at the hands of the police”, reversing official accounts of his death in the latest case to draw scrutiny to the actions of the country’s security services.

Ruto urged caution in drawing conclusions from the death of blogger Albert Ojwang, which follows years of extrajudicial killings and disappearances that the president has repeatedly promised to stop in the face of rising public anger.

Police initially said Ojwang, 31, was arrested in western Kenya on Friday for allegedly defaming the country’s deputy police chief online, and died “after hitting his head against a cell wall”.

His wounds, including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage, pointed towards assault as the cause of death, according to pathologist Bernard Midia, who was part of a team that conducted an autopsy.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the police watchdog, has launched an investigation and named five police officers who arrested Ojwang in Homa Bay County and escorted him to Nairobi’s central police station.

On Wednesday, Police Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised for the police’s implication that Ojwang died by suicide.

“Based on the report by IPOA… it is not true… He did not hit his head against the wall,” Kanja told a Senate hearing.

The death of Ojwang, who wrote about political and social issues, has drawn widespread condemnation from rights groups and touched off protests outside the mortuary where his body was examined in the capital Nairobi.

“This tragic occurrence, at the hands of the police, is heartbreaking and unacceptable,” Ruto said in a statement.

“As we mourn his passing, let us patiently but vigilantly follow the progress of the investigations without making premature judgements or drawing conclusions.”

Two days after Ojwang’s arrest, on June 8, police took him to hospital where he was declared dead, IPOA Vice Chairperson Ann Wanjiku told the Senate hearing, adding that the IPOA attended Ojwang’s post mortem examination.

“We are committed to ensuring that everyone who was involved in the crime is brought to justice expeditiously and that no interference from any quarter is brought to bear on the investigation,” Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told the Senate.

Reporting by Humphrey Malalo, Edwin Okoth and Hereward Holland; writing by Hereward Holland; editing by Ammu Kannampilly, Mark Heinrich and Aidan Lewis.