West Africa

Somalia and Saudi Arabia team up on AI and space rules — a small deal with outsized stakes In a week dominated by big speeches about the future of the internet, one of the more consequential announcements came quietly from the sidelines. Somalia and Saudi Arabia have agreed to build a framework for cooperation on regulating artificial intelligence and space technology — two domains racing ahead faster than most governments can write the rules. The agreement, signed in Riyadh by Mustafa Yasin Sheikh, Director General of…

New AFRICOM chief in Mogadishu pledges deeper U.S. support against al-Shabaab and ISIS Mogadishu—On a humid Wednesday on the Indian Ocean, as traffic in the capital thinned for afternoon prayers, the new commander of U.S. Africa Command slipped into Villa Somalia for a first meeting with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. General Dagvin R. M. Anderson, newly in charge of America’s military footprint on the continent, promised that Washington will sustain—and sharpen—its support for Somali forces battling al-Shabaab and a…

On a Mogadishu Parade Ground, a First for Somalia’s Future The sun was already high over Mogadishu when the cadets squared their shoulders and stepped forward, eyes fixed, uniforms pressed to a razor’s edge. Families craned for a glimpse from beyond the rope line. A drumline fell quiet. And then, across the parade ground of the Türkiye–Somalia military academy, eleven young women took their oaths as officers — the first in Somalia’s history to do so. For a country that has endured war, state collapse, and a long…

Somalia Brings the Prophet’s Birthday Back Into the Sun Streets of Mogadishu turn green and white Before dawn on Thursday, Mogadishu’s sea breeze carried a different kind of chorus. It rose from mosques and courtyards, from balconies draped with fabric the color of limes and spring leaves. By midmorning, the capital’s streets swelled with thousands of worshippers—many young and dressed in white—waving bright green flags and singing devotional poetry in the rolling cadence of Somali Arabic. Loudspeakers crackled with…

Disqualified candidate arrested after fatal election clashes shake Somalia’s northeast LAS ANOD, Somalia — Security forces in Somalia’s northeast have arrested a wealthy businessman who was disqualified from a regional presidential race, accusing him of mobilizing armed supporters who battled police during an August 29 vote at a hotel in Las Anod. The violence left several people dead, according to local elders, and delayed burials as families spar over where and how to lay their loved ones to rest. What happened Police…

Somalia inches up the Global Peace Index — but the peace dividend remains out of reach In Mogadishu, markets open before sunrise, as vendors arrange tomatoes beneath corrugated roofs and scan their phones for security alerts with the same routine as checking prices. That small, practiced caution has defined Somali life for a generation. This week, a global metric offered a sliver of encouragement: Somalia has improved slightly on the 2025 Global Peace Index, edging to 151st out of 163 with a score of 2.983 — its first dip…

Analysis: In Mogadishu’s Operating Rooms, a Simple Checklist Meets a Tough Reality In a city where surgeons work under the hum of generators and the steady pressure of backlogged cases, a new study from Mogadishu has surfaced a paradox at the heart of patient safety: most clinicians know the World Health Organization’s surgical safety checklist, but relatively few use it. In Somalia’s fragile health system, that gap between knowledge and practice can be the difference between a safe outcome and a preventable tragedy. What…

Somalia’s New Tax Law Is About More Than Money In a packed hall in Mogadishu this week, government officials and business leaders did something that once sounded abstract in a country battered by conflict and aid dependence: they debated tax brackets, compliance, and what a fair state should ask of its citizens. Somalia introduced a new tax law at its annual tax forum, pitched by officials as the backbone of a modern state and a path away from foreign aid. The timing is not an accident—and the stakes are high. Why this…

In Nuneaton, a Viral Claim Meets the Reality of a Town Finding Its Footing Nuneaton, the Warwickshire market town better known as the birthplace of novelist George Eliot, has been dragged into a national argument over crime and belonging after one man’s anguished appeal went viral: “The country is not safe. But my country, now, I’m safe. I want to go back.” The speaker, 50-year-old former asylum seeker Yusuf Ali Hamud, told Sky News he has been urging the Home Office to send him back to Somalia. His assertion that Nuneaton…

Out in the Open: Somalia’s Displaced Families Wait for Help That Isn’t Coming At first light on the outskirts of Afgoye, the land looks deceptively generous—open sky, a stretch of scrubland, a hint of green beyond the road. Then you notice the mats laid directly on the earth, the improvised shelters of sticks and cloth, and children cupping their hands for sips of water measured out like medicine. This is where hundreds of families displaced by fighting in southern Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region have gathered, waiting for…