Conditions are improving in Somalia as the U.N. reports the famine is over, but the situation is still "dire."
A report from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization shows there are fewer people in danger of starvation, but millions are still in danger. Meanwhile, a British representative has seen their status upgraded during an unprecedented visit by the U.K.'s top diplomat, and a Somalian journalist has been shot dead in the nation's capital.
Here's a look at recent headlines coming from Somalia.
* The FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit and USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network provided a report saying the number of people needing emergency humanitarian aid fell to 2.34 million from 4 million. Though a recent bumper crop thanks to recent rains and crucial aid has helped provide a great deal of food, the whole Horn of Africa has 9.5 million people affected, including in Djibouti, Kenya, and Ethiopia, the FAO reports.
* Rain in October through December enabled FAO distributed seeds and fertilizers to double maize and sorghum production in Bay and Shabelle regions.
* U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague is traveling in Kenya and Somalia this week, AFP reports. During a stop in Mogadishu, Hague said Britain was appointing its first ambassador to Somalia in 21 years. Current Senior Representative to Somalia Matt Baugh will remain in Nairobi, Kenya, until the situation has stabilized in chaotic Mogadishu.
* Hague noted much of Somalia was still under the control of "extremists and criminal gangs who use it as a base to launch terrorist attacks and kidnappings that have targeted British nationals," according to his website. While in Somalia he met with the Commander of the African Union Mission to discuss the situation on the ground.
* Journalist Hassan Osman Abdi had been a producer and station director at Shabelle radio, Associated Press reports, and was killed on Jan. 28. He was shot by gunmen on his way home from work.
* Reporters Without Borders reports that Abdi was one of four journalists killed in 2012 thus far, along with Nigerian Enenche Godwin Akogwu of Channels TV on Jan. 20 and two journalists in Syria, Shoukri Ahmed Ratib Abu Bourghoul of Al-Thawra on Jan. 2 and Gilles Jacquier of France 2 on Jan. 11.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
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