West Africa

Prominent elder slain in Somalia’s Gedo region as tensions simmer along border Attack in Beled Hawo A prominent community elder and local council member was shot dead late Monday in Beled Hawo, a hard-to-govern border town in Somalia’s Gedo region where political strain and armed groups have frayed the edges of daily life. Residents identified the victim as Aden Mohamud Buurdhubo, a respected figure known for mediating disputes and pushing for calm in a place that often runs on uneasy truces. Gunmen opened fire under cover…

Somali police publicly burn 250 cartons of seized drugs in Mogadishu, widening a high-stakes crackdown Somali authorities burned 250 cartons of seized drugs in Mogadishu on Tuesday, a public destruction meant to send an unmistakable message: the country’s ports, airports and border crossings are being watched, and trafficking will be met with the full force of the law. The haul was confiscated at Mogadishu Port and Aden Adde International Airport after weeks of heightened surveillance, police said. The Banadir Regional…

Echoes from Biafra: A Finnish Court's Sentencing Highlights Ongoing Struggles In a courtroom in Lahti, Finland, a decision was handed down that resonates far beyond its walls, eliciting reflections on colonial legacies, regional identity, and the scars of a war long past. Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian-born Finnish citizen and self-declared leader of a Biafra secessionist group, was sentenced to six years in prison for terrorism-related offenses. The ruling, delivered by the Päijät-Häme District Court, encapsulates a complex…

Analysis: A New Chapter in Las Anod Tests Somalia’s Fragile Federalism In the dust-brown city of Las Anod, the center of a long-contested patch of northern Somalia, a political ceremony is poised to send a message that carries well beyond the city’s edge. Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre are expected to attend the swearing-in of Abdikadir Ahmed Aw-Cali—widely known as Firdhiye—as president of the newly formed Northeastern Somali administration. The move signals not only the…

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…

Under the acacia: After a night of fire, families from Adale search for safety Displaced mother and her family sit outside their makeshift shelter/Ergo The tree offers a patch of shade and not much else. A few plastic jerrycans, a cooking pot blackened by smoke, a sleeping mat—this is all that remains for dozens of families who fled Adale, a remote town in Somalia’s Mudug region, after armed men set fire to homes and shops late on July 31. The attack, rooted in a smoldering clan dispute, pushed more than 120 families into…

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…

The Heartbeat of Education: Navigating the Global Teacher Crisis Santiago, Chile—As the sun rose over the bustling streets of this vibrant city, the shadows of an impending crisis loomed large over the UNESCO World Summit on Teachers. Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, painted a stark picture of the global teaching landscape, calling it “a slow-burning emergency” that is threatening educational advancement and, by extension, the very fabric of society. With her words resonating through the conference hall,…

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…