Analysis of new data shows that a range of factors will prevent any prospect of mass returns from Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, including: [1] an unwillingness of refugees to return, [2] Kenya’s withdrawal of forces to the border, and [3]… Read More ›
Ethiopian forces, in coordination with Somali police, detained former al-Shabaab senior leader and Southwest (SW) regional presidential candidate Mukhtar Robow in Baidoa and transported him to Mogadishu on accusations of being a “security threat”. In a statement, the Federal Government… Read More ›
What happened: Al-Shabaab vacated the port town of Harardheere in Somalia’s Galmudug region, which it controlled for the last 10 years. Potential Drivers: There are at least three reasons why the group may have left the town: 1) Drone Strikes: Local… Read More ›
What’s happened: The newly reconstituted election commission for Somalia’s Southwest (SW) administration has delayed regional presidential elections for a second time to December 5th. The new electoral members are reportedly receiving pressure from the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to… Read More ›
The Somali government has agreed to pay lobbying firm Sonoran Policy Group (SPG) $100,000 per month until December 2018 to engage in lobbying efforts aimed at removing Somalia from U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban and re-opening part of the… Read More ›
How will U.S. military operations in Somalia evolve during the rest of the Donald Trump administration? On June 4, the New York Times reported the Pentagon was likely to make cuts among the 1,200 U.S. Special Forces deployed to Africa because Special… Read More ›
On June 8, al-Shabaab ambushed U.S. Special forces who were building a command outpost with 800 combined Kenyan and Somali forces north of Kismayo. The group did not claim to inflict mass casualties on a scale of other high-profile attacks,… Read More ›
U.S. and Somali forces have been accused of killing five civilians in a raid that resulted in the capture of three alleged al-Shabaab commanders in the remote village of Macalinka — 25 miles outside Mogadishu. Both independent and pro-Shabaab media… Read More ›
Al-Shabaab was the most deadly Islamist militant group in Africa over the past year, according to a new study by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) in Washington, D.C. The U.S. government-affiliated think tank revealed important trends and statistics… Read More ›
As part of his tour of Somali regional states, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmaajo” visited Dhusamareeb this week to validate the December 2017 peace agreement between the Galmudug administration and Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a (ASWJ). ASWJ, as a multi-clan… Read More ›
This month, UNHCR is reporting that more than 70,200 Somali refugees have been repatriated from Dadaab, and over 17,400 are registered as “willing to return” to Somalia. An interesting note in the report was that returns to Baidoa had been “suspended… Read More ›
Somalia: On 9 September, al-Shabaab released photos of supplies it looted during its 3 September attack on Buulo Gaduud, just outside Kismayo. It claimed to have killed over two dozen Somali troops in the raid. The group appeared to capture vehicles,… Read More ›
Al-Shabaab and the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) dispute the nature of casualties following a series of drone strikes in Somalia’s Jubaland region — part of an ongoing competition to shape public information in the fog of war. According to… Read More ›
