Waziri atekwa

Wapiganaji wa kikundi cha Al-Shabab wamemteka Waziri mpya katika Serikali ya Somalia saa chache tu baada ya kuteuliwa.

Waziri huyo mwanamke, Asha Osman Aqiil (32), aliteuliwa Jumatano kuwa Waziri wa Wanawake na Mambo ya Familia, akatekwa jana Alhamisi jirani na nyumbani kwake.

Kuna taarifa kwamba, Waziri huyo mjane alitekwa wakati anakwenda kuhudhuria kikao cha kwanza cha Baraza jipya la Mawaziri.

Miaka miwili iliyopita, wapiganaji wa kiislamu walimuua mumewe kwa kumpiga risasi nchini humo.

Soma hapo chini

Somali Islamist al-Shabab militants have kidnapped the country's women's minister, a further indication the impoverished nation's fast descend into anarchy and political chaos, reports said on Thursday.

The 32-year-old Asha Osman Aqiil, a former woman activist turned politico, was kidnapped by armed men in the town of Balad, north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Aqiil's abduction comes barely a day after she had been named Minister for Women and Family affairs.

Aqiil is the lone woman in the 18-member cabinet unveiled by Prime Minister Abdiwali Mohamed Ali on Wednesday. She was kidnapped while on her way to attend her first cabinet meeting.

She had endured personal tragedy two years back after her husband was shot dead by Islamist insurgents.

Her kidnapping has led to fresh security concerns among aid agencies engaged in food distribution in the impoverished nation. On Wednesday, the UN formally declared that Somali was experiencing a famine.

The kidnapping has invited severe condemnation from female rights activists who vowed to do what they can to secure women's rights.

Al-Shabab with ties to al-Qaeda terror outfit seeks to overthrow the Somali government and impose an Islamic government in the country. The outfit has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US and several other countries.

The African nation has not had a functional government since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and its current Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed government's influence is limited to certain pockets of Mogadishu.