Rift

At Davos, Trump’s Greenland push ignites transatlantic showdown DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump descended on the World Economic Forum on Wednesday for a high-stakes confrontation with European leaders, arriving as his bid to secure U.S. control over Greenland and threats of tariffs on European allies deepen the most serious rift across the Atlantic in decades. Trump’s keynote address to the annual gathering of political and business elites — his first in six years — is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. local time (1:30…

Tuesday January 20, 2026 DOHA, Qatar — Somalia and Qatar on Monday signed a defense cooperation agreement aimed at deepening military ties and expanding security collaboration, days after Mogadishu formally ended its security and ports partnerships with the United Arab Emirates. Officials from both governments said the pact focuses on military training, exchange of expertise, development of defense capabilities and broader security cooperation. They said the agreement is intended to strengthen Somalia’s armed forces and…

Somalia, Qatar sign defense pact as Mogadishu pivots from UAE ties Agreement signed in Doha by Somali Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi and Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani Pact covers military training, exchange of expertise, capability development and broader security cooperation Deal follows Somalia’s termination of defense and ports agreements with the United Arab Emirates Somali officials say move strengthens federal control over…

DUBAI (AX) — DP World said Tuesday its operations at Berbera Port are continuing as normal, brushing aside immediate disruption concerns after Somalia’s federal government declared it was canceling all agreements with the United Arab Emirates, including port, defense and security deals. The Dubai-based ports operator said it remains bound by its existing agreements with North Western State of Somalia, the self-declared republic that Somalia considers part of its territory. The company declined to comment on what it…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s abrupt decision to cancel port management and security cooperation agreements with the United Arab Emirates caps years of friction and crystallizes a new geopolitical split in the Horn of Africa. Triggered by Israel’s recognition of North Western State of Somalia as an independent state — the first by any country — the rupture threatens to reorder alliances, stress Somalia’s fragile federal compact, and unsettle maritime security along one of the world’s most strategic coastlines. The move,…

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s federal cabinet has annulled all agreements previously signed with the United Arab Emirates, voiding deals that covered defense cooperation, port management and security assistance, in a sweeping move aimed at reasserting federal control over foreign partnerships. The cabinet cited breaches of sovereignty stemming from UAE agreements with regional authorities. The decision follows Mogadishu’s ban on Emirati military and cargo flights and the start of a UAE military drawdown in Somalia, according to…

AXADLE, Somalia — Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition struck the port of Mukalla in southeastern Yemen after alleging that weapons unloaded there were bound for the United Arab Emirates–backed Southern Transitional Council, according to officials and international media reports. The coalition had urged civilians to evacuate areas around the port ahead of the strikes, warning the facility could become a new flashpoint in Yemen’s widening conflict. Saudi officials have accused the STC of actions that undermine Yemen’s…

Lake Naivasha’s shoreline has been on the move. When farmer Dickson Ngome leased his 1.5-acre plot in Kenya’s Rift Valley in 2008, his vegetables grew more than 2 kilometers from the water’s edge. This October, he woke to find his home and fields inside the lake—about a foot of water covering everything. “It seemed as if the lake was far from our homes,” said his wife, Rose Wafula. “And then one night we were shocked to find our houses flooded. The water came from nowhere.” The couple and their four children now sleep on the…

Somalia on the Brink of Fragmentation Under Hassan Sheikh Amid Escalating Federal Rift MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s fragile federal system faces a fresh test after Jubaland moved to strip the words “federal member” from its official title, a direct challenge to Mogadishu that echoes an earlier rupture by Puntland State and deepens a nationwide constitutional and political rift under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The move, announced Sunday by Jubaland regional Speaker Sheikh Abdi Mohamed, follows months of acrimony over…

Mohamud’s Visit to Kismayo: A Fragile Gesture Toward Reconciliation KISMAYO, Somalia — When Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travels to Kismayo this weekend for talks with Jubaland’s leader Ahmed “Madobe” Mohamed, he will be stepping into a political landscape that has been scarred by years of public acrimony, private deals and military showdowns. The trip — brokered quietly by Nairobi and welcomed, cautiously, by regional capitals — is less a triumph than a test of whether local rivals can move from brinkmanship to…