Armed Somali militants attacked a United Nations base 250 miles outside of the capital, Mogadishu.  U.N. security forces, however, retaliated, killing three of the militants. They had attacked the Wajid compound, which the U.N. uses to store aid supplies. “We don’t know what they had planned, but we think they wanted to take over the whole compound and kidnap foreign aid workers,” a U.N. official told Reuters. Estimates say that about 30 percent of the nation depends of food aid, the BBC reports. Militants often target humanitarian workers and many agencies have pulled back their work in the nation.

Mortar Attack Kills Somalis
Violent exchanges between insurgents and government forces in Mogadishu have left 12 Somali civilians dead, the BBC reports. Insurgents reportedly fired at least six mortars at the presidential palace, and government troops retaliated by firing back. “Most of the shells landed on deserted houses but three hit places where people stay,” a witness told the BBC. Just in the last several weeks, more than 165,000 Somalis have fled the capital city due to fighting between the government and insurgents. The country, which has been without a stable government since the early 90s, is due to get more African Union peacekeepers, according to the nation’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. “We welcome the support of the recent AU heads of states summit in Libya for the government … and we have a firm pledge for the increase of the AU peacekeepers,” he told reporters Sunday. While Mogadishu currently has 4,300 AU peacekeepers, they are not allowed to fight insurgents unless they are defending themselves. However that mandate will be changed, to allow the peacekeepers to “fight along government soldiers,” Sharmarke said.

U.S. Will Give Flu Meds to Caribbean

The United States is set to donate 420,000 packets of Tamiflu to help countries in Latin America and the Caribbean combat the spread of swine flu. As the winter season begins, countries in the region including Argentina, Brazil and Chile are seeing a surge in serious cases of the illness, The New York Times reports. While most cases of the virus are mild, its spread is now unstoppable, Margaret Chan, who leads the World Health Organization, said at a global forum, reports the BBC.

After weeks of mounting violence in the east African nation, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has declared a state of emergency, the BBC reports. “As of today, the country is under a state of emergency,” Ahmed told reporters in the nation’s capital city, Mogadishu, according to AFP. Fighting between militants (who control part of the nation) and pro-government forces has cost the lives of many. Last week, a suicide car bombing killed the country’s Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden and at least more than 30 others. Somali, which has not had a stable government since 1991, currently has about 4,300 peacekeepers in the capital. However they are not allowed to attack militants unless they are defending themselves. Neighboring country Ethiopia had troops in Somalia for two years but withdrew them in January following a United Nations peace deal. “Any further actions from Ethiopia regarding Somalia will be done according to international community decision,” Bereket Simon, Ethiopia’s information minister said. The BBC reports that, according to agencies, about four million Somalis are in need of food aid.

Obama to Burma: Let Opposition Leader Go!
Myanmar, the Asian nation formerly known as Burma, has no legal justification for detaining opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, President Obama said Tuesday in calling for her immediate, unconditional release. “I strongly condemn her house arrest and detention, which have also been condemned around the world,” Obama said in a statement. “Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued detention, isolation and show trial, based on spurious charges, cast serious doubt on the Burmese regime’s willingness to be a responsible member of the international community,” he said. “This is an important opportunity for the government in Burma to demonstrate that it respects its own laws and its own people.” In 1989, the nation’s military junta, which has been in power since 1962, changed the English translation of the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar. The United States is one of several countries to still use the former name. Jared Genser, Suu Kyi’s U.S.-based lawyer, expressed delight that Obama took a stand on the situation. He urged the world community to continue pressing this “threat to international peace and security posed by the ongoing actions of the Burmese junta.”

Somalis Flee Violenc
Some 67,000 Somalis in and around the capital city of Mogadishu have fled amid increased fighting between government forces and Islamist militias over the past three weeks, CNN reports. Those seeking to escape the violence are seeking shelter along the Afgooye corridor – a 19-mile stretch of shanties – outside the capital. The area already is home to nearly a half-million displaced Somalis, occupying homes built of twigs and branches. Clinics are overflowing with sick and starving children, and there is far too little medicine and food to accommodate them. Somalia’s transitional president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, is begging the international community “to help Somalia defend against foreign militants who have invaded the country,” according to CNN. He told journalists Monday that he feared his nation would become another Iraq or Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces are fighting Islamic extremist groups. “We are starting today the distribution of aid for some 50,000 people in Afgooye corridor through our local partners in Somalia,” the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement Tuesday. “Today’s distribution will include cooking sets, plastic sheeting, blankets and mats.”

Obama Will Visit Ghana in the Summer
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are scheduled to visit Africa in June and July. After the president attends the G-8 summit in Italy, the Obamas will visit Accra, Ghana, July 10 and July 11. “The President and Mrs. Obama look forward to strengthening the U.S. relationship with one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa, and to highlighting the critical role that sound governance and civil society play in promoting lasting development,” the White House said in a statement. Obama is also set to visit Egypt in early June to give a speech about America and the Muslim world, reports CNN. 
 

Militants Take Over Somali City
Following a fight with government forces, Islamic militant group Al-Shabab took over the Somali city of Jowhar Sunday. Jowhar, which is 55 miles from Mogadishu, is the hometown of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. The takeover essentially has shut down the city. “All businesses are closed, and residents already are fleeing, while Al-Shabab are roaming the streets,” a journalist in Somalia told the news service. The rebels conducted “search operations in the police station and the provincial headquarters of the town” after seizing the city, the journalist said. Fighting between the group (which the United States claims has ties to al-Qaeda) and the nation’s transitional government has intensified in recent days. On Sunday, mortars hit a Mogadishu police academy killing one person and wounding 15. Violence between the government and Al-Shabab has killed 103 people and wounded 420, CNN reports, citing