East Africa

Kenya and Uganda Move to Tear Down Trade Barriers. Can the Northern Corridor Finally Breathe? At dawn on the Malaba border, the hiss of air brakes is as constant as birdsong. Truck drivers brew tea on camp stoves beside long queues of lorries, waiting for stamps, scans, and weighbridge ticks that can eat full days of their lives. On Saturday in Mbale, Uganda, ministers from Kenya and Uganda said they want to change that—fast. In a joint communique, Kenya’s Investments, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui and…

Analysis: Jubbaland’s Broadside Against Mogadishu Exposes Somalia’s Uneasy Balancing Act Somalia’s fragile political compact wobbled again this week as the Jubbaland regional administration publicly accused the federal government in Mogadishu of drifting from core national priorities, including the campaign against al-Shabaab and the country’s hard-won political unity. In a blunt statement issued Monday, Jubbaland warned that “short-term political interests” were eroding trust and urged a return to consensus politics. “The…

Somalia Executes Two Convicted al-Shabaab Members as Military Court Steps Up Death Sentences Somalia’s military court on Monday executed two men convicted of belonging to al-Shabaab and participating in targeted killings and ambushes in Mogadishu, in the latest sign that authorities are accelerating capital punishments amid an ongoing offensive against the extremist group. The men were identified by the court as Ibrahim Adan Madeey and Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, known by the noms de guerre “Maaxi” and “Yoonis.” The…

Kenya and Uganda order rapid fix to border logjams, vow to align trade with EAC rules Kenya and Uganda moved to ease persistent friction along their busy frontier on Friday, ordering a rapid clean-up of congested crossings and pledging to strip away barriers to commerce that have frustrated truckers and traders for months. After a meeting in Mbale, eastern Uganda, Kenya’s Trade Minister Lee Kinyanjui and Uganda’s Minister Wilson Mbasu said they would bring operations at key crossings—Malaba, Busia, Suam and Lwakhakha—into…

Somalia’s New “Northeastern” State Emerges From the Fault Lines In a sun-baked Las Anod still bearing the scars of last year’s street battles, the Somali federal government says it has finished a job many thought impossible: bringing the disputed regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn into the federal fold as a new “Northeastern” state. It is an administrative milestone—and a political gambit—that reshapes Somalia’s internal map and tests the limits of its federal project. What Changed Today Mogadishu’s Interior Ministry…

Egypt sends senior military team to Somalia ahead of AU mission deployment CAIRO/MOGADISHU — Egypt has dispatched a high-level military delegation to Mogadishu ahead of the planned deployment of Egyptian troops to the African Union’s new mission in Somalia, signaling fresh momentum in regional security cooperation as Somalia confronts a resilient al-Shabaab insurgency. The 16-member Egyptian team, led by Maj. Gen. Islam Radwan, arrived in the Somali capital on Sunday and was received by officers from the African Union…

Somalia moves against online defamation. The bigger story is who decides what’s dangerous speech—and when In Mogadishu’s humming tea stalls and on the diaspora’s WhatsApp groups from Minneapolis to Mombasa, politics is now a permanent scroll. Somalia’s Office of the Attorney General stepped squarely into that stream this week, announcing a legal push against what it called online insults, defamation, social incitement, offensive images, immoral content, false information, and posts that “promote societal division.” Some…

Breaking: Sudan’s RSF chief Hemedti sworn in to lead parallel government as drones hit Nyala What happened Sudan slid deeper into a dangerous split this weekend as Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — better known as Hemedti — was sworn in as head of a rival government backed by his Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The oath-taking was announced from Nyala, a major city in Darfur that has served as the RSF’s hub during the war. The ceremony could not be independently verified, and Hemedti has rarely been seen inside Sudan since fighting…

Kenya Bets Big on Khat as Its Somalia Lifeline Frays In the cool highlands of Meru, where khat bushes cling to the slopes like stubborn green lace, the leaf locals call miraa is not just a crop. It is a clock. By late morning, pickers hurry to fill baskets; by noon, bundles are racing toward airstrips; by afternoon, flights fan out over the Indian Ocean to quench a daily chew in Mogadishu and beyond. If the chain is disrupted by an argument in a boardroom or a checkpoint on a highway, thousands feel it—farmers in Meru,…

On Turkey’s Victory Day, new Somali officers step forward in Ankara Under a late-summer sky in Ankara, the brass of military bands mingled with the steady tap of parade boots and the low murmur of families craning for a better view. On a day when Turkey commemorates its hard-won independence, a new class of officers—including a cohort from Somalia—crossed the stage at the National Defence University’s War College to collect their diplomas. Somali Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi and Somalia’s ambassador to Turkey,…