Somalia

IIDA Women's Development Organization today launched a policy brief report detailing how Somali women's two decades of struggles have been crystalized in the Provisional Constitution.

In 1979, newly recruited policewoman, Asha Hassan Hussein, was the first female to ride a police motorcycle to patrol the streets of Mogadishu. Three decades later in a nation devastated by conflict, now a Captain, Asha specialises in tackling violence against women as head of the Somali Police Force's (SPF) Gender Based Violence Department.

The African Union Mission in Somalia Police component has officially began training security officers from the Somali police force. The two-week training course is being carried out at the General Kahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu where 30 male and 10 female officers will undergo intensive training on Criminal Investigation.

Relaxing in the beige-toned lobby of the Empire Hotel in Manhattan, a world away from her native Somalia, Dr. Deqo Mohamed is talking calmly about how she helped save thousands of people from getting bombed by terrorists.

A 22-year-old Somali woman who says she was forced to flee her home country after being threatened by the al-Shabaab militant group for refusing to wear a burqa, has taken the Home Affairs minister and refugee officials to the Western Cape High Court in a bid to secure refugee status and asylum.

The woman, Naemo Gaal, says that if she is deported to Somalia, there is a risk that she would be persecuted.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Monday night presented the Nansen Refugee Award to Somali humanitarian, educator and women's rights advocate Hawa Aden Mohamed. She was unable to attend in person for health reasons.

The conflict that Somalia endured for more than 20 years took a heavy toll on the women of the country who now look to the new government for hope of better times ahead.

At the onset of civil war in 1991, the men of Somalia killed one another as clans vied for power, while women were left to pick up the pieces and support their families.

African Development Solutions (ADESO) has launched a project for more than 300 women in the Puntland region of Somalia to promote women's political engagement, Uganda's Daily Monitor reported Tuesday (September 18th).

Hawa Aden Mohamed watched the young women in blue and red shawls as their hands fluttered busily over clacking sewing machines in an airy workshop in Somalia's Galkayo town. "Seeing these girls earning a living, it is a good feeling," said the diminutive Somali, whose work to help displaced women improve their living standards was recognised on Tuesday when she was named winner of this year's Nansen Refugee Award.