West Africa

A Somali Voice Honored in London In a city that has become a second home to so many communities, a voice born along the Indian Ocean was celebrated this week in Bloomsbury. SOAS University of London has conferred an honorary doctorate on Somali novelist Nuruddin Farah, saluting a body of work that, for nearly half a century, has mapped the slippery terrain of exile, identity, and power. For a nation often described as “a country of poets,” the recognition lands like a steadying hand on the shoulder: an affirmation that words…

Somali president hosts senior U.S. commander in Mogadishu as both sides tighten counterterrorism cooperation Somalia and the United States moved to deepen their security partnership on Wednesday as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met in Mogadishu with Gen. Dagvin R.M. Anderson and U.S. Ambassador Richard H. Riley for talks centered on counterterrorism and stabilization. Somali officials described Anderson as the new chief of U.S. Africa Command and said the discussions focused on accelerating joint efforts against…

Youth Awakening: The New Face of Resistance in Togo As the sun set over the streets of Lomé, Togo's capital, the air buzzed with defiance. Young people carrying banners took to the streets, chanting for change and demanding political accountability from a regime that has ruled for nearly six decades. This wave of protests marks a significant generational shift in Togo’s political landscape—one that is uniquely vibrant and unfettered by the constraints of their parents' memories. A New Generation Takes the Lead Unlike…

New Envoys in Mogadishu Signal a Deeper European Bet on Somalia’s Future On a sunlit morning at Villa Somalia, the ritual of diplomacy unfolded with a quiet confidence. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud received the credentials of the European Union’s new ambassador, Francesca Di Mauro, and the Netherlands’ envoy, Henk Jan Bakker. It’s the sort of ceremony that can seem routine—flags aligned, hands clasped, a few words about friendship and cooperation. But in Mogadishu, where diplomacy has often moved in fits and…

Kenyan Border Towns on Edge as Somali Fighters Cross into Mandera After Jubaland Clashes What we know NAIROBI—A tense calm has settled over Kenya’s northeastern frontier after armed Somali regional fighters reportedly crossed into Mandera County, fleeing clashes with Somalia’s federal forces in the neighboring state of Jubaland. Residents say schools are shut, shops are shuttered, and families are on the move, unsure if the gunfire drifting across the scrubland will stay on one side of the border—or spill deeper into Kenya.…

Somali Woman Found Dead in Nairobi Guest House; Police Launch Manhunt for Companion Nairobi’s South B neighborhood woke to a grim discovery on Monday: the body of a 35-year-old Somali woman, identified by police as Farhiyo Ahmed, lying in a small guest room just off the busy Fuata Nyayo corridor. What began late the night before as a budget check-in for two has turned into a homicide investigation and a hunt for a man police say fled the scene. What We Know So Far According to a police report filed at Mariguini Police…

Austria Deports Two Somali Men to Mogadishu in First Forced Returns in 20 Years MOGADISHU — Two Somali men convicted of drug offenses in Austria were flown to Mogadishu this week, the first deportations from Austria to Somalia in two decades, underscoring a rapidly hardening mood on migration across parts of Europe. Austria’s Interior Ministry confirmed the removals, saying the men were returned after serving their prison sentences. In the Somali capital, relatives told BBC Somali Service that they were warned a removal…

Somalia’s Oil Gamble: Promise, Pitfalls and a Narrowing Window In a region where new oil and gas frontiers can redraw maps and fortunes, Somalia has long carried a paradox: abundant potential beneath the ground, and little to show above it. Today, with fresh licenses signed and seismic boats in the water, the country stands at another inflection point. The question is not whether hydrocarbons lie under Somali soil and sea—the geological hints are there—but whether the politics, contracts and institutions can finally bring…

Kenya Denies Jubaland Troop Incursion as Mandera Leaders Cry Foul — A Border Dispute With Long Shadows NAIROBI — Kenya’s government says nothing unusual is happening in Mandera. Local leaders insist armed men from neighboring Somalia are inside the town, disrupting life and humiliating the state. In a region where a dirt road can mark the difference between war and peace, the truth can be as contested as the border itself. What Nairobi says Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen pushed back hard on claims that…

U.S. lawmakers push separate travel advisory for North Western State of Somalia — a small bureaucratic change with big geopolitical ripples In Washington, sometimes the biggest signals come through the smallest notices. A “Do Not Travel” warning sits quietly on the State Department’s website and shapes everything from dealmaking to diplomacy. Two senior Republican lawmakers now want to carve North Western State of Somalia out of the blanket red warning that covers all of Somalia—arguing that what looks like a technical fix…