SOMALIA

Somali rebel group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on a Kenyan military convoy on Tuesday, but Kenya is downplaying the size of the attack.

Kenya will end its military campaign against the Islamist al Shabaab rebels in Somalia when it is satisfied it has stripped the group of its capacity to attack across the border, its head of military said on Saturday.

Two African Union peacekeepers were injured on Saturday when Somalia's al Shabaab rebels attacked one of the mission's bases in Mogadishu, a spokesman for the force said.

Military tensions between Kenya and Somali insurgent group al-Shabab continues to rise following the Kenyan military’s decision to invade Somalia on Oct. 16.

While Kenya's sweeping military intervention into Somalia shares the Obama administration's goal of dismantling the Al-Qaeda affiliated militant group al-Shabab, the campaign also carries the risk of exacerbating instability in the notoriously fractured country.

He warned that the US and other western nations will likely face consequences for their support of Libyan rebels who toppled Gadhafi.

With ongoing turmoil in Africa and the Middle East, illegal immigration is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge in Europe.

The Kenyan shilling slipped against the dollar on Tuesday, weighed on by offshore banks closing out dollar positions after the central bank issued new trading rules, while stock rose slightly on the back of banks' nine-months earnings.

Somali gunmen kidnapped three aid workers working for Danish Demining Group in northern Somalia on Tuesday, the humanitarian agency said, the second capture of Western aid agency staff working in the region this month.

A grenade attack on a bar in the center of Nairobi early Monday wounded 12 people, Kenyan police said, an incident that comes as Nairobi battles al-Qaida-linked militants in neighboring Somalia.

Kenya said Somalia's al Shabaab militants were on the run after it deployed more troops and struck rebel targets by air to secure its border from rebels Nairobi accuses of kidnapping foreigners on its soil.

The African force protecting Somalia's government acknowledged on Friday at least 10 of its troops had been killed in battle in Mogadishu and said the true toll could still climb, after rebels showed dozens of bodies.

Cooperation between Somalia's al Qaeda linked militants and pirate gangs is growing as the al Shabaab group becomes more desperate for funding, the head of the U.N.'s counter-piracy unit said on Thursday.

Kenya must take care not to let its cross-border incursion into Somalia to secure its border from al Qaeda-linked militants turn into a drawn-out campaign, former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

Kenyan and Somali troops advanced on an Islamist-held town in southern Somalia on Thursday and African Union peacekeepers moved on one of the last pockets under militant control in the capital Mogadishu.

Kenyan officials visited Somalia today to attempt to calm fears after last week's incursion into Somalian territory.

Mining companies would be banned from investing in Eritrea's potentially booming minerals sector under a draft U.N. resolution that Security Council members are due to start negotiating on Tuesday.

Ugandan police briefly arrested opposition leader Kizza Besigye on Tuesday and said they would charge 15 protesters with treason in an effort to quell demonstrations against rising prices.

Somali militants linked to al Qaeda prepared to defend a town in southern Somalia on Tuesday from advancing Kenyan and government troops, while a suicide car bomb killed six people in the capital during a visit by a Kenyan minister.

Hundreds of al-Shabab fighters have amassed at a location where they believe Kenyan forces that crossed into.

The Kenyan shilling reversed earlier losses to close firmer against the dollar on Monday for the fourth straight session, helped by new limits on the amount of foreign exchange banks can hold, while stocks edged up on bets the recent sell-off was overdone.