Somalia

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…

Puntland State launches multi-front assault on ISIS positions in Al-Miskad mountains Ceelka Il-Abbal, Somalia — Puntland State security forces launched a coordinated, multi-pronged offensive Monday against entrenched ISIS fighters thought to be sheltering in the remote Al-Miskad mountain range, officials said, stepping up a campaign to flush out some of the group's last visible leaders in northeastern Somalia. The operation, focused on the Ceelka Il-Abbal area — a maze of rocky ridges and dry gullies that have long offered…

Tragedy in El-Fasher: A City Under Siege and the Human Cost of Conflict The skies over El-Fasher, once alive with the promise of safety, have turned into agents of peril, as a drone strike claimed the lives of at least 60 people in a displacement camp. This tragic event underscores the grim reality facing the besieged city in western Sudan, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have intensified their siege in a brutal conflict that has raged since April 2023. The Heart of Darfur Under Siege Activists from the…

Somalia stakes a moral claim in The Hague over the right to strike When Somalia’s ambassador stood at the International Court of Justice in The Hague last week, she did more than recite legal positions. Ambassador Khadija Osoble Ali framed a debate about workers’ rights in a country still rebuilding basic institutions after decades of conflict — and, in doing so, offered an argument with implications far beyond Mogadishu. The ICJ held hearings from Oct. 6–8, 2025, on a request for an advisory opinion about whether the…

Somalia and Ethiopia test a fragile thaw in Addis Ababa — and the Horn of Africa is watching On a quiet Sunday in Addis Ababa, far from the sirens that so often announce news in this region, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stepped off a plane at Bole International Airport and into a delicate diplomatic dance. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed greeted him before the two moved quickly behind the National Palace’s tall gates. The choreography was deliberate: a handshake, a short walk, a private conversation. The…

Why Hassan Sheikh’s Addis visit matters: a recalibration in the Horn At a glance When Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Addis Ababa this week for talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the official line was familiar: friendly neighbours discussing “bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.” Behind the diplomatic language, however, lay a fraught effort by Mogadishu to reshape the political map of southern Somalia — and to pull a wary Ethiopia into the middle of a struggle that has implications for…

Somalia’s new passport push is about far more than a booklet Somalia’s decision to tender a “third-generation” e-passport sounds technocratic on the surface — a procurement notice, new materials, a better chip. But in a country where mobility is survival, identity is politics, and trust has been fragile for decades, the stakes are far higher than a redesign. The Immigration and Citizenship Agency (ICA) has put out a global call for bids to produce a polycarbonate, biometric passport aligned with International Civil Aviation…

Jubaland’s UN complaint lays bare a widening rift in Somalia’s fragile federal experiment KISMAYO — The latest escalation between Mogadishu and the semi-autonomous Jubaland state, culminating in a formal complaint lodged at the United Nations Office in Somalia, is not just another local spat. It is a symptom of a deeper, unresolved contest over power, identity and the shape of Somali federalism — and it raises uncomfortable questions about how fragile post-conflict states manage the tug between central authority and…