Fresh fighting erupted in Somalia’s main capital, Mogadishu, between the government forces backed by the Africa Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Hizbul Islam terror group. Reports say that at least 13 people have died and 40 others were injured in the ensuing battle amid plans by the AU to boost its troops levels. Media sources are reporting 11 deaths but sources in Mogadishu confirms 13 deaths to AfrobeatRadio’s East Africa correspondent, Abdulaziz Bilow.

Puntland security officers yesterday killed 13 Al-Shabab militias and wounded thirty two others in fighting in Bossasso town. The militia group members were killed after they attacked an army post near Bosasso, the commercial capital.

17 people have been confirmed dead at the Kibera slums in Nairobi on Monday after they consumed what was thought to be illicit brew laced with an unknown industrial chemical, police sources said. The bodies of eight of the victims were found in their houses while the bodies five others were discovered along footpaths later on Monday. Four others died at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Seychelles has sentenced 11 Somali pirates to a ten year jail term sentence each for attempting to hijack a coast guard patrol boat Topaz in December 2009. ‘The ruling by the Supreme Court in Victoria, the first of its kind in the Indian Ocean archipelago, was delivered on Monday’ said Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP).

Kenya’s foreign affairs minister has urged the African Union (AU) to take strong actions against the Somali militant group following the July 11th Kampala bombings. Moses Wetangula was speaking at the opening of the Executive Council of the African Union Friday in Uganda’s capital Kampala

This post is the second one in a series titled African Democracy that deals with the issues related to democratization process in Africa in the contexts of its historic and contemporary local realities. The general presumption of the series is that immense complexities Africa represents are not necessarily suitable for a direct adaptation of an “American version of Democracy” and that the task of democratization of Africa may require a paradigm shift in defining what is truly involved in building a system that is socially, politically, economically and ecologically just but also feasibly implementable in Africa by peaceful means.

Two Ugandan soldiers working with the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia AMISON were killed and three others injured during recent clashes with Islamist insurgents in the northern part of the capital Mogadishu. In a separate attack, 26 civilians were killed during Thursday’s fighting and five others on Friday in sporadic fire exchanges.

The head of the African Union on Friday has said that two more countries will send troops to join the African Mission for peacekeeping in Somalia (AMISOM). Mr Jean Ping AU commission president said that Djibouti and Guinea will both send troops to the ravaged country to boost the overwhelmed contingent of Uganda and Burundi forces, bringing the estimated troops levels to 10,000. The AU mission currently has about 6,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi in Somalia. At least 21,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in the violence over the last years, while 1.5 million have been forced to flee their homes.

A US national has been arrested by security officials and charged with trying to join Somali militant group of Al-Shabab. 20 year old Zachary Adam Chesser was charged on Wednesday with providing material support to the militia group in Somalia. According to court documents, Chesser was linked to a website that called for protests against the creators of satirical cartoon “South Park” for the show’s depiction of the Prophet Mohammed PBOH earlier this year.

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka announced the launch of a new political party, the Democratic Front for People’s Federation DFPF. The party he said at a lecture celebrating his 76th birthday will represent an “organ of collaboration for progressive forces” to unseat the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP.