After more than a year of back-and-forth consultations, negotiations, and political meetings between Somalia’s federal government, regional state leaders, and opposition blocs, no breakthrough has been achieved on the country’s most divisive political issues: the constitutional amendments introduced by the current administration, approved by parliament, and signed into law by incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, but rejected by key federal member states and opposition groups, and the electoral roadmap, which has remained in limbo. The prolonged deadlock has effectively paralysed the…
French President Emmanuel Macron joined more than 30 African heads of state in Kenya on Monday for the launch of the Africa Forward Summit, an event focused on expanding France’s economic and political ties across the continent while pursuing new investment opportunities. The gathering marks the first time France has hosted such a summit in an English-speaking African country since the initiative began in the 1970s. It comes at a time when Paris is seeking to rebuild its influence after facing growing resistance in several former West African colonies. The summit began at the University of…
A new report produced by the Bertelsmann Stiftung as part of its Transformation Index (BTI) 2026 — a global assessment that evaluates political transformation, economic transformation and governance performance in 137 countries — has been released, painting a grim picture of Somalia’s current state. The report concludes that the country remains among the weakest-performing states globally in terms of democratic transformation, rule of law and institutional stability. Somalia received a Status Index score of 1.80, ranking 133rd out of 137 countries assessed, while its political transformation…
Somalia’s opposition bloc, based in Mogadishu, has been planning mass protests across the capital over the past several days. The demonstrations are being organized in response to the current administration led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and what critics describe as mass evictions taking place across Mogadishu. While the federal government insists the evictions are part of efforts to reclaim public land, the operation has resulted in widespread displacement, with hundreds of families forced from their homes. Many houses belonging to displaced residents have been demolished. The land…
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Sudan’s civil war had become a “proxy engagement” involving multiple countries backing rival armed factions, and urged external actors to push the warring sides toward a peace deal. “Sudan has become a proxy engagement between multiple countries that are backing some of the elements that are fighting,” Rubio said in remarks addressing the conflict. “There are other countries that are not directly involved but have allowed their territories to be used as routes to ship weaponry,” he said. Rubio said ending the conflict would require outside powers…
From imprisoned critics to war-scarred regions, Ethiopia’s upcoming election is unfolding amid insecurity and growing doubts about whether it can be free or fair.…
Across Nigeria, overlapping forms of organized violence have intensified in both scale and coordination, exposing structural weaknesses in the country’s security architecture. This crisis complicates conventional counterinsurgency strategies and undermines the state’s monopoly on authority.…
Unresolved testimonies and partial disclosures reopen questions about Isaias Afwerki’s early ties to U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Ethiopian imperial strategy, challenging decades of official denial.…
Across the Red Sea, rival powers are entrenching conflict and remaking political order in the Horn.…
Fifteen years after NATO’s intervention in Libya, economic collapse and foreign subjugation have fueled renewed support for Gaddafi-era stability.…
A Somali ethnographer’s fieldwork among her own community reveals that insiderhood is not always a source of trust, but often a site of scrutiny, negotiation, and doubt.…
Elected on an anti-tribalism platform, Hargeisa’s mayor, Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, faces the challenge of avoiding the very clan-based tactics he once opposed. …
Somalia’s election crisis now converges with a deeper institutional fracture, raising the specter of fragmentation, conflict, and a post-federal future.…
The International community (IC) and African Union (AU) have spent a fortune and tremendous military resources in Somalia since 2006 to fight Al Shabaab. But their strategy has failed because it betrayed the interest of the Somali people. The making of the catastrophe Somalia’s civil war led to state collapse in 1991 and consequently death and despair became the norm. Alarmed by the calamity, a small UN military contingent intervened to ensure that food reached the victims. But cruel warlords thwarted the mission and subsequently precipitated famine. Thereafter, President Bush sent a huge…
How the post-2018 optimism in Ethiopia–Sudan relations gave way to renewed rivalry, driven by border disputes, Nile politics, Sudan’s civil war, and the competing influence of Gulf powers within a regional security complex where domestic instability rarely remains contained.…
Teddy Afro’s latest album continues his engagement with Ethiopia’s contested past. The work highlights how art becomes a space for national debate.…
The Iran conflict is exposing the Horn’s structural dependence on vulnerable trade routes and its limited capacity to absorb external shocks.…
A documentary lens on Ethiopia’s industrial push shows how jobs, land, and livelihoods are unevenly reshaped—benefiting investors while burdening workers and farmers.…
As colonial structures weakened and new nations took shape, writers began telling their own life stories. These narratives bridged older communal traditions and the rise of a modern literary self.…
The politics of recognition in the Somali Horn reveals a deeper structural convergence, where opposing projects mirror each other in privileging symbolic validation over the material reconstruction necessary for genuine sovereignty.…
In his latest work, Theft, Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah turns a false accusation into a powerful story about identity and injustice. Set between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the novel reveals how history shapes even the most ordinary lives.…
Scholar, poet, and critic, Ali Jimale Ahmed devoted his life to reexamining Somalis beyond colonial tropes, insisting that their crisis was as much semantic as it was institutional — rooted in how Somali society has been historically narrated by inherited frameworks of conception.…
Before African salsa filled dance floors around the world, a Malian musician helped invent its sound in Havana. The life of Boncana Maïga reveals how a Cold War-era journey changed the course of West African music.…
conflicts in HoA
Wars and political conflicts have shaped the Horn of Africa for decades. Explore our articles, news, and in-depth coverage of the region’s crises.
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The War in Sudan
Since fighting erupted in 2023, we have reported from the ground with breaking news, cultural stories, and coverage centered on Sudanese voices.
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Trump and Africa
U.S. policy toward Africa shifted sharply under Donald Trump. Explore our reporting on foreign policy, drone strikes, and discussions on immigration.
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Palestine in Africa
Afro-Palestinian solidarity shapes how Africa writes about Palestine. Explore our coverage and analysis of these cross-border connections.
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Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe made history at the London Marathon by becoming the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in an official race, finishing in 1:59:30 and breaking the previous record set by Kelvin Kiptum. …
William Ruto and Giorgia Meloni have signed a 2026–2029 action plan to expand cooperation between Kenya and Italy after talks in Rome. The agreement sets out government-to-government consultations and coordination in forums such as the United Nations, covering issues including migration, technology, climate, and development. …
The Trump administration is exploring ways to improve relations with Eritrea, including potentially lifting some sanctions, as part of a broader effort to rebuild diplomatic ties after years of limited engagement. This initiative has been discussed by U.S. envoy Massad Boulos in meetings with Eritrean and Egyptian officials, including Isaias Afwerki and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The move is still under review but reflects growing U.S. interest in the region, particularly as security concerns rise in the Red Sea due to threats from the Iran-backed Houthi movement. …
Across the Horn of Africa, elections tell very different stories - decades-long grips on power in Djibouti and Uganda, uncertainty in Somalia, conflict and the dominance of the Prosperity Party shaping Ethiopia’s polls, and a closely watched 2027 race in Kenya. …
A group of foreign ministers from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia has condemned Israel’s appointment of a diplomatic envoy to Somaliland. …
In this interview, Hammour Ziada speaks on war, censorship, symbolism, and the uneasy role of literature in times of violence and collapse.…
From plural universality to the philosophy of shared living, Fathi Triki reflects on modernity, dignity, and coexistence across Arab and African intellectual traditions.…
As crises multiply from Sudan to Yemen, Federico Donelli makes the case for seeing the Red Sea as a one interconnected region shaped by fluid alliances and the decline of old hierarchies.…
In Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State, Mahmood Mamdani draws on archival research and lived experience to reassess two pivotal regimes, challenging dominant narratives about Idi Amin and examining the long rule of Yoweri Museveni.…
Somalia’s parliament has passed controversial constitutional amendments, triggering a new political crisis at a time of rapid regional and global change. Somalia’s former Foreign Minister, Mohamed Abdirizak, reflects on what this moment reveals about the country’s institutions, politics, and future.…