East Africa

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,…

Somalia and Djibouti set up regular political talks amid shifting Horn of Africa landscape Somalia and Djibouti signed a memorandum of understanding in Mogadishu on Saturday that creates a new, formal channel for routine political consultations between the two neighbors—an understated but potentially important move in a region where quiet diplomacy often does the heavy lifting. The agreement was inked by Somalia’s foreign minister, Abdisalam Abdi Ali, and Djibouti’s foreign minister, Ambassador Abdulqadir Hussein Omar,…

Morocco edges Madagascar 3-2 to clinch CHAN 2024 crown in Kasarani thriller Morocco became champions of Africa’s home-based talent once again, outlasting Madagascar 3-2 in a breathless African Nations Championship (CHAN) final at Kasarani Stadium on August 30. In a match that swung like a metronome, the Atlas Lions twice surrendered a lead before Oussama Lamlioui’s late strike handed them their third CHAN title and a new piece of African football history. A final that swung like a pendulum The night began with a dart of…

North Western State of Somalia police warn against attacks on Ethiopian migrants after Hargeisa incident Hargeisa, North Western State of Somalia — Police in the North Western State of Somalia capital moved quickly on Saturday to warn would-be vigilantes that anyone who harms Ethiopian nationals will be prosecuted after a group of youths attacked Ethiopian migrants in the city. Authorities said no serious injuries were reported, but the incident has unsettled a city that prides itself on order and relative calm. What…

Kenyan Governor Demands Pullout of Jubaland Troops From Mandera, Citing Threat to Sovereignty NAIROBI — Tension along Kenya’s northeastern frontier flared Friday as Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif accused Somalia’s Jubaland forces of setting up inside Mandera Town and demanded their immediate withdrawal, warning that the incursion endangered residents and tested Kenya’s sovereignty. Speaking at a public gathering in the border county where Kenya meets both Somalia and Ethiopia, Khalif said a group of Jubaland fighters…

Opinion | Mogadishu’s New Port Terminal Is a Bet on Trade, Trust, and a Different Future The cranes at Mogadishu’s seafront swung into motion this week with a confidence that felt new. Somalia inaugurated a modern container terminal—lifting capacity from roughly 150,000 to 250,000 twenty-foot equivalent units—and launched work on a new harbor headquarters to tighten management. For a city where the port once evoked images of conflict and relief shipments, the sight of fresh steel and bright paint is its own kind of…

Qalanjo, the Star Who Gave Somalia Its Soundtrack, Dies in Hargeisa She walked onto the stage with a dancer’s grace and a singer’s certainty, a silk scarf sweeping like a banner. In the 1970s and ’80s—when Somali theaters were full and radios hummed in every teashop—Khadijo Mohamud Yusuf, known to her country simply as Qalanjo, helped give Somalia its soundtrack. The Ministry of Information confirmed she died on August 29 in Hargeisa, calling her passing a profound loss to Somali culture. She was among the first women to…

Kenya police admit failures as new graves push Kwa Binzaro cult toll to 32 Kenya’s police on Friday publicly acknowledged failures in their response to an emerging cult tragedy on the country’s Indian Ocean coast, as authorities revised the death toll to 32 and intensified exhumations in a forested stretch of Kilifi County. The announcement, paired with fresh discoveries of human remains, stirred memories of the Shakahola massacre in 2023, one of the deadliest cult-linked events in recent history. Revised toll and a grim…

Somalia courts China in Ningxia as Mogadishu seeks a new investment chapter In Yinchuan, the windswept capital of China’s Ningxia region, a small delegation from the Horn of Africa tried to cast a very large shadow. Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre stood before a hall of businesspeople and provincial officials at a newly minted Somalia-China Business Networking Conference and made a pitch that was at once practical and aspirational: come see Somalia for yourselves. “Directly explore,” Barre urged Chinese investors,…