Somalia

Somalia elects nine EALA lawmakers, taking its full seat in East Africa’s regional house Somalia’s parliament has elected nine lawmakers to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), a procedural step with outsized symbolism. Less than a year after joining the East African Community (EAC), Mogadishu now has a voice in the bloc’s lawmaking chamber in Arusha, Tanzania — where rules on trade, movement, and regional cooperation are hammered out. The joint sitting of both Houses at Villa Hargeisa in Mogadishu capped months…

Puntland State forces detain Turkish national in anti-ISIS sweep in Bari BOSASO, Somalia — Puntland State security forces said Wednesday they captured a Turkish national during a counterterrorism operation in the rugged Baalade valley of the Bari region, part of a sustained campaign to flush Islamic State-linked militants from the Cal‑Miskaad mountains. Authorities identified the detainee as Feyzul Hashim Suleyman. He is the second Turkish citizen to be seized by Puntland State forces in recent weeks; another Turkish…

Puntland State’s Quiet Experiment: Local Power, Measured Reform and What It Means for Somalia In a country where headlines often focus on violence, famine and the limits of central governance, Puntland State offers an alternative story — not a miracle, but a pragmatic experiment in balancing security, institutional reform and political negotiation. The autonomous region on Somalia’s northeastern coast has, in recent years, shown that local leadership and slow, deliberate reform can yield tangible results: a shrinking…

Puntland State’s quiet experiment: What a restive Somali state can teach a nation At daybreak in Bosaso, the trucks rumbling down from the Cal Miskaad mountains carry fish, frankincense and the unvarnished news of the day. In this corner of northeastern Somalia, where the mountains meet the sea, Puntland State has spent years testing an idea that feels almost radical in a country long defined by outside interventions: that security, politics and dialogue work best when they are owned, designed and led by communities…

Mogadishu Forum Puts Somalia’s Energy Future on Center Stage MOGADISHU — As the Jazeera Hotel fills with ministers, investors and telecom executives on Oct. 15, Somalia’s conversation about power is being reframed. The Somali Success Forum, now in its fourth year and hosted by Hormuud Telecom, has turned a routine business gathering into a public reckoning over how a fragile, resource-rich country can light its way into stability and growth. From dark nights to data centers For decades, Somalia’s electricity story has…

Somali Opposition Condemns Arrests of Journalist and Activists Amid Sinai Market Dispute What happened A prominent Somali opposition coalition on Tuesday condemned a string of arrests tied to a long-running land dispute in Mogadishu, saying authorities had unlawfully detained a television journalist and members of a committee advocating for families displaced from the city’s Sinai Market area. The Somali Salvation Forum, a coalition of opposition groups, said in a statement that the arrests amounted to a “clear violation”…

Somalia’s Senate: How the Upper House Lost Its Grip on Federalism MOGADISHU — Somalia’s experiment with federalism, long touted as a path out of decades of central rule and clan rivalry, now faces a painful test. The country’s Upper House — the Senate — was created to be the bulwark of regional interests and a mediator between Mogadishu and the federal member states. Instead, critics say, it has been reduced to a largely ceremonial body as the executive consolidates power and regional grievances harden into open…

IMF, Somalia Reach Staff-Level Deal That Could Unlock $30 Million Somalia has secured a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund that could release roughly $30 million in fresh financing, a timely boost as the government faces tighter aid flows, the bite of climate shocks, and the demanding work of rebuilding a post-debt-relief economy. The agreement, announced Sunday after two weeks of talks in Washington and Mogadishu, will go to the IMF Executive Board in the coming weeks. If endorsed, it would mark…

Somalia’s Digital Pivot: A Two-Day Workshop With Long-Term Stakes On a quiet Sunday in Mogadishu, in a hotel meeting room that could be anywhere in the world, Somalia’s tech regulators and telecom bosses sat down with United Nations experts to sketch out how the country will go digital—properly, and for good. The agenda was modest on paper: a two-day national consultation to validate Somalia’s Digital Transformation Strategy for 2025–2030. The stakes are anything but. Somalia’s new digital strategy is not just another…

Somalia to Honor Soldier Who Blocked Al‑Shabaab Advance on Villa Somalia After Jilicow Prison Assault What happened Somalia’s federal government says it will formally honor a soldier credited with stopping Al‑Shabaab militants from advancing toward the presidential palace during a brazen raid on the Jilicow detention center in Mogadishu on Saturday. The attack, claimed by the al‑Qaida‑linked group, triggered hours of gunfire as security forces fought to regain control of the fortified National Intelligence and Security…