Somalia

Whoever Leads Them, ISIS in Somalia Keeps Fighting — and Its Leader’s Fate Remains a Mystery BOSASO, Somalia — After months of airstrikes, ground offensives and rumours, the fate of the man who once laid the foundation for ISIS in Somalia remains unresolved. Abdulkadir Mumin, the group’s widely recognised founder, has not been seen in public for months. His absence has left local communities, Puntland State authorities and international monitors speculating — and a violent campaign in the Al‑Miskaad mountains grinding on.…

Interpol-led arrest spotlights Somalia’s struggle with sexual violence, jurisdiction and fragile justice MOGADISHU — The arrest and transfer to Mogadishu of a former hospital director accused of rape has set off questions across Somalia about who prosecutes crimes in a country where authority is often divided and justice fragile. Authorities say Interpol, working with Rwandan officials, helped locate and arrest Jama Abdi Mohamud, the one-time director of a hospital in Qardho, who has been accused of sexual assault and of…

Somalia and Turkey move to seal a labor pact — and raise bigger questions about jobs, skills, and dignity In a quiet room in Doha on Friday, Somali Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Yusuf Mohamed sat down with Turkey’s Minister of Labour and Social Security, Prof. Dr. Vedat Işıkhan, to push forward a bilateral labor cooperation agreement. On paper, it is a technical accord: training programs, civil service capacity-building, and a plan to spur job creation. In practice, it is also a test of whether two close partners…

Somalia’s first EALA delegation: A cautious leap into East Africa’s political mainstream MOGADISHU — When Somalia’s joint parliament rose from a long morning of debate this week to elect nine lawmakers to the East African Legislative Assembly, it closed a chapter that began soon after the clan-based conflicts of the 1990s and the long, halting restoration of a central state. The vote marked the first time Somali legislators will sit in the EALA chamber in Arusha alongside delegates from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda,…

Somalia’s energy moment: private grit, solar hope and the hard work ahead MOGADISHU — When Somalia’s 4th Success Stories Forum wrapped on a warm October afternoon, the optimism in the room felt brutally practical rather than triumphant. Government ministers applauded Somali-owned electricity firms for keeping lights on in the capital. A telecom giant announced that nearly all of its facilities now run on solar. And business leaders urged deeper investment to wean the country off imported diesel. Those notes of pride,…

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’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…

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…