Media narratives about the Global South often center on India and Brazil, portraying them as regional hegemonic powers and key patrons of neighboring economies. While this framing captures part of the story, it overlooks other emerging leaders. Africa—widely seen as a potential future hub of the Global South—is undergoing a dynamic transformation. According to the […]
It has been 60 years since the Italian Somaliland and the British Somaliland became independent from their respective colonial powers to form a union that miserably failed 30 years later. After a long ever-morphing saga of blood, destruction, and loss of identity Soomaalinimo (Somaliness), these two political entities, legally known as Somalia, have just concluded […]
In the moral version of human history – expressed in the Quran, Bible, and Torah – corruption is considered the worst reckless impulse that caused men to fall from grace. It was the betrayal of trust and loyalty for purely selfish gains. From that perspective, the root cause of corruption is individual moral shutdown, derailment […]
The political transformation in the Horn of Africa is arguably the most counterintuitive development in the 21st century so far. Ethiopia has steered away from implosion and, for the first time in its history, appointed an Oromo Prime Minister with an Islamic name and heritage, ending the 20-year-long conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Nonetheless, Abiy […]
On 2 April 2018, Ethiopia’s restless new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn into power. Since then the Federal Republic of Ethiopia has found itself in a whirlwind of reform. Ethiopia is undergoing its most significant changes since the 1991 birth of the EPRDF ruling coalition under its controversial leader, Meles Zenawi. The last two months […]
There is a broad-based consensus that security in Somalia has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. In the past few weeks, hundreds of people have been killed by truck bombs at two prominent locations in Mogadishu. The lethal potency of the explosives and the scale of death and devastation resulting from the Oct 14th one […]
All betrayals are not made equal. In recent weeks, a political disaster of epic proportions has befallen upon Somalia. The Somali government has committed what many – including some of its staunchest supporters – consider a treasonous act. Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has extradited a Somali citizen, a highly decorated military […]
At this critical juncture and in this particular ‘do or die’ moment in Somali history, objective assessment of new trends has an existential significance. Early this year when the previous Somali President was voted out of the office in favor of a more popular one, the euphoria was so contagious, and expectation so high. Sadly, […]
Somalia is headed in the right direction. But “right direction” doesn’t mean a path free of pitfalls and clear of landmines.
With Somalia’s election around the corner, what criteria should be used to evaluate each candidate? Hint: not name recognition nor clan affiliation.
Illegal wildlife trade is of immense value to criminal organizations and armed non-state actors such as al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Between now and August, when a new Somali president is supposed to be elected, a variety of political noises are expected to get amplified only to lead to the all too familiar outcome—a wonderful presidential parade to inaugurate the next charlatan, a new or a recycled one.
After declines following attacks by Somalia-based militants and piracy, Kenya’s $1 billion a year tourism sector looks set to for a robust recovery in 2016.
Since Somalia’s independence in 1960, its relationship with the U.S. has been on a roller coaster that travels up and down dangerous steeps and performs sudden inversions that turn everything upside down.
AMISOM has outlived its mandate. It is time to put UN peacekeepers in Somalia.