There seems to be no end in sight for the political crisis in Somalia. On February 8, the mandate of President Muhammad Abdullahi Muhammad, commonly known as Farmajo, expired without a date set for either parliamentary or presidential elections. The protests called by the opposition Council of the...
In late June, the United Arab Emirates asked Somalia to enter the conflict in Yemen in return for financial incentives and the reopening of a medical facility. Somalia’s instant rejection partially resulted from the strained Mogadishu-Abu Dhabi relationship. Why did the UAE initially make the...
For months, analysts have warned that Somalia is one of many African countries at the highest risk for the spread of the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV2. Now, that forecast is turning quickly into a grim reality. Somali authorities have confirmed over 2,100 cases of COVID-19 — the disease...
A Somali community sick of negative headlines decided to start their own local newspaper and write their own stories. A Somali community in the north of England is using the power of the press to beat the media at its own game. Sick of seeing negative headline after negative headline, they...
Africa is still witnessing an increase in social turbulence, unrest and protest. Levels of armed conflict flux and wane. In 2017, levels of high fatality violence in Africa were significantly lower than during the immediate post-Cold War period. This trend has occurred in spite of the recent...
The increased threat of piracy off Somalia and Yemen since the Aris 13 hijacking in March is set to continue due to heightened insecurity in the High Risk Area. Reports of pirate activity in the High Risk Area (HRA) region have increased by more than five times over the past 12 months, totaling...
To restore unity, Somali federal and state leaders need to cooperate and work together for the interest of the country as a whole. The October 14 bombing that killed over 400 people, mostly civilians, near Mogadishu’s busy Zoppe Square was the single worst attack in East Africa since the...
Extensive web of alignments and divisions across the Horn of Africa puts pressure on countries to declare solidarity with either side of the Qatar crisis. The oil-rich Arabian Peninsula states have long represented a beacon of stability in the tumultuous Middle East. Yet the five-month-old Qatar...
Climate change, droughts, floods, growing populations, civil strife, slowing economies and flailing states are putting lives of millions at risk. As these authors have pointed out earlier, Africa’s landscape is on uncertain ground as the global economy experiences a downturn. Of course, some...
The Kenyan government continues the legal fight to close Dadaab—the largest refugee camp in the world. Claims by the Kenyan government that the Dadaab refugee camp on the border with Somalia has become a recruiting ground for terrorists have been behind the push to shut down the camp....
