Vol 48 No 13 | SOMALIA Unlikely meeting of minds 22nd June 2007 President Abdullahi's government makes some progress but it still isn't trusted Despite widespread scepticism, a Somali National Reconciliation Congress is now due in Mogadishu on 16 July. It offers to reconcile the clans without which no national political reconciliation...
Vol 48 No 13 | ERITREAETHIOPIASOMALIA Warriors by proxy 22nd June 2007 With Somalia looking more settled, Ethiopia has been looking towards Eritrea, which it sees as the regional spoiler. On 8 June, Addis Ababa wrote to the United Nations...
Vol 48 No 9 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA The great gamble 27th April 2007 Ethiopia and others bet on the TFG A few weeks ago, it looked as if relative calm was returning to Mogadishu, but violence has soared again. Ethiopia says it wants its forces to leave but...
Vol 48 No 9 | ERITREASOMALIA The Jihadists' friend 27th April 2007 Eritrea now condemns foreign involvement in Somalia. Last year, it sent large quantities of arms and fighters, and a training mission, to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), then...
Vol 48 No 9 | SOMALIA Mogadishu clear up 27th April 2007 President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed claimed last week, in Addis Ababa, that the situation in Mogadishu was improving. Very few would agree now, after heavy fighting and mass casualties....
Vol 48 No 6 | SOMALIA Peacekeepers under fire 16th March 2007 Ethiopia is withdrawing its troops but the transitional government is yet to start serious reconciliation efforts The Ugandan troops who have arrived in Mogadishu did little to stop the shooting. There were 1,300 of them, the first contingent of the African Union Mission to...
Vol 48 No 6 | SOMALIA Which clan is in charge now? 16th March 2007 The two most powerful clans in southern Somalia are the Habr Gidir/Hawiye and the Darod (each with its own sub-clans). Habr Gidir elders and sheikhs led the Islamic...
Vol 48 No 3 | SOMALIA The Addis to Mogadishu axis 2nd February 2007 AU summiteers have offered half the number of troops required for the peacekeeping force At the end of the AU summit in Addis Ababa on 30 January, its new Chairman, Ghana's President John Kufuor, announced that four countries had pledged troops: Uganda...
Vol 48 No 2 | SOMALIA Peace but no keepers 19th January 2007 To survive, the new government must widen its support base and bid farewell to Ethiopia's soldiers African Union leaders will meet in Addis Ababa on 22-24 January to discuss sending 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia. Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said that an AU...
Vol 48 No 2 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA Marching across the border 19th January 2007 Ethiopia was always confident of an easy victory over the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, despite the SICC's support from international Islamist volunteers and Eritrea. Addis Ababa had planned...