Vol 65 No 17 | SOMALIA Al Shabaab adaptability causes alarm 22nd August 2024 On 2 August at 9.50pm at Lido Beach, Al Shabaab launched its deadliest attack in Mogadishu since two car-bombs claimed 121 lives and hundreds of casualties in the capital. At the b...
Vol 65 No 16 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA Djibouti joins fight against the Abiy-Bihi pact 19th July 2024 Fearing big losses if Addis Ababa’s port access deal with Somaliland goes ahead, President Guelleh wants to scupper it Battle drums are sounding, but the casus belli is still being determined. Nobody yet knows whether the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abi...
Vol 65 No 16 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA Shots and plots 1st August 2024 On 15 July, local militias on the outskirts of Abudwaq, in Galmudug, stopped a convoy of two trucks loaded with infantry weapons coming from Ethiopia and led by two cars belonging ...
Vol 65 No 14 | SOMALIAPUNTLAND ISIS breaks out of its Puntland base 28th June 2024 Fighters from ISIS or Da’ish are extending operations beyond the Puntland enclave to challenge Al Shabaab, the main Islamist militia in Somalia The isolated Horn of Africa branch of ISIS or Da’ish, outnumbered and outgunned hitherto by Al Shabaab, the trustiest affiliate of the rival Al Qaida franchise, has been gain...
Vol 65 No 14 | ETHIOPIASOMALIAUNITED ARAB EMIRATESSOMALILAND Abiy Ahmed’s sovereignty deal with Muse Abdi risks more regional turmoil 27th June 2024 Ethiopia’s accord with Somaliland on access to the sea angers Mogadishu as the UAE pushes its side in the fight Regional concerns are mounting over the mooted quid pro quo between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Muse Bihi Abdi in which Ethiopia gets a port in the Gulf of Aden in retu...
DISPATCHES Vol 65 No 14 | ETHIOPIASOMALIA Turkey hosts first round of talks on port row 3rd July 2024 Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan said the negotiations have been ‘candid, cordial and forward-looking’ Turkey mediated the first round of talks between Somalia and Ethiopia’s foreign ministers on Monday in the first international attempt to ease diplomatic tensions between the... READ FOR FREE
Vol 65 No 11 | SOMALIA Mogadishu gives the UN marching orders 17th May 2024 A 10,000-strong African force is mooted as officials plan to wind down UN peacekeeping operations Set up at the end of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) on 31 March 2022, the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) was supposed to last two-and-a-half yea...
Vol 65 No 8 | SOMALIA Puntland risks fracturing the federation 11th April 2024 The latest confrontation puts the popular new constitution at risk, adding to the woe caused by Addis’s port deal with Somaliland Regional President Said Abdullahi Dani has taken Puntland out of Somalia's federal system, sparking a political crisis that weakens national unity and threatens the devolution pain...
DISPATCHES Vol 65 No 8 | SOMALIA Puntland leaders oppose new federal system, challenging President Hassan Sheikh 3rd April 2024 Officials in Puntland pulled out of constitutional talks and will boycott referendum The semi-autonomous state of Puntland is again testing the authority of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu by pulling out of the country's federal system in protest at th... READ FOR FREE
Vol 65 No 7 | SOMALIA Politicking hinders the war effort 26th March 2024 Manoeuvring in Mogadishu for the elections is diverting focus from the war on Al Shabaab and the pirates are returning to the high seas Analysis of recent security lapses in and around Mogadishu show the government in Mogadishu is in danger of losing much of the ground it gained in the fight against Al Shabaab sinc...