East Africa

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,…

Ethiopia Bets on Homegrown Fertilizer as Dangote Signs $2.5 Billion Deal in Somali Region For a country where seven in ten people make a living from the land, the announcement landed with the weight of a good rain. Ethiopia will partner with Nigeria’s Dangote Group to build one of the world’s largest urea fertilizer complexes in Gode, in the Somali Regional State—an arid corner better known to many Ethiopians as a frontier than a factory town. The deal, framed as a bid for “food sovereignty,” is also a test of whether East…

Egypt’s troop deployment to Somalia is legal — and a spark in an increasingly combustible region When Cairo announced in late August that Egyptian soldiers would join the African Union’s stabilization mission in Somalia, the move was presented as a routine piece of security cooperation: units trained in Egypt were to be deployed to the central and southern frontlines — Hiiraan, Lower Shabelle and Gedo — to help Somali forces press the fight against al-Shabab. But beneath the procedural language lies a story about shifting…

Northeastern State's Offensive Against ISIS: A Turning Point in Somalia's War on Terror In the shadow of the al Miskad mountains, the resilient forces of Northeastern State, backed by American airstrikes, are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign against Islamic State militants. This offensive, the most significant in recent memory, underscores the broader geopolitical recalibrations influencing the Horn of Africa. The Battle at the Ballade Valley On August 22, the serene landscape of Ballade Valley erupted into…

Changing Tides at Mogadishu Port: A New Chapter for Somalia's Economic Lifeline MOGADISHU, Somalia — In the heart of the Horn of Africa, where geopolitical currents are as tumultuous as the Indian Ocean waves, Mogadishu Port stands as a beacon of economic potential and national resilience. Thursday marked a notable shift in its stewardship as Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur, affectionately known as Americo, took the helm, poised to chart a fresh course for Somalia’s primary gateway to the world. Leadership Transition: Americo…