From 19-20 October, Somalia held the next phase of its National Consultative Forum (NCF) in order to determine an election format for 2016. The event came after international and Somali officials previously declared that one person-one vote polls were not… Read More ›

Mogadishu
Somalia’s Troubled Transition: Vision 2016 Revisited
The following is the Executive Summary from the Sahan report: SOMALIA’S TROUBLED TRANSITION: VISION 2016 REVISITED. To read the full report, click here. Somalia is politically in far better shape than when President Hassan Sheikh took office in 2012, but much of… Read More ›
As Somalis Peacefully Protest Against Charlie Hebdo, Al-Shabaab Urges More Attacks in Europe
On 21 January 2015, al-Shabaab released a public statement praising the 7 January attack by the AQAP-connected Kouachi brothers in Paris at the offices of the provocative satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the subsequent siege at a Jewish deli by a co-conspirator named Ahmed… Read More ›
Analysis: Somali Prime Minister’s Cabinet Faces Difficult Challenges Ahead
On 12 January 2015, PM Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke’s new 60-member cabinet was announced after weeks of speculation about whether there would be fresh faces, or instead, the usual lot of Presidential allies and other personalities on the political merry-go-round. The… Read More ›
As Somali MPs Battle Over Anti-PM Motion, Potential Successors’ Names Surface
In the last four days, two separate attempts by Somali Members of Parliament (MPs) to begin a debate to dismiss Prime Minister (PM) Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed under a controversial no-confidence motion has resulted into separate bouts of uncontrollable raucous. Shouting… Read More ›
Somalia Seeks Weapons Amid Gun-less Training In Kismayo and Clan Fighting
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud recently revealed the government bought weapons to bolster domestic forces and also asked for an extension to the one year partial relaxation of the 1992 arms embargo issued by the UN Security Council in March 2013. Some steps… Read More ›
Social Media Reactions to AMISOM’s Hit and Run in Mogadishu
On the morning of 28 January 2014, an AMISOM vehicle ran over a civilian on Maka al Mukarama road and left the scene in what African Union forces called a “tragic accident.” The man killed in the hit-and-run was 41-year-old taxi… Read More ›
Somalia’s New Cabinet – Between Constitution, Clan, Comrades, and Quality
On 21 January 2014, Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed’s new cabinet was approved by a large margin of Somalia’s parliament with 186 MPs voting in favor, 46 against, and 1 abstaining. The enlarged cabinet consisted of 25 ministers, 25 deputy ministers,… Read More ›
Somalia PM’s Ouster: Sign of Institutional Success and Vulnerability
On 2 December 2013, the Somali parliament passed a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Said as 184 Ministers of Parliament (MPs) out of 250 present voted to oust the head of government who was approved in October… Read More ›
Somalia’s New Rape-Journalist Row Adds to Government Pressure
Only 8 months after conclusion of the last infamous rape-journalist case, Somalia police reportedly arrested on defamation charges Radio Shabelle journalist Mohamed Bashir Hashi and a 19-year-old woman he interviewed (above) who says she was raped by journalists from the the… Read More ›
Alleged Resignation Letter of Somalia’s Ex-Central Bank Chief Released
The alleged resignation letter of Somalia’s former Central Bank governor Yussur Abrar was published recently on the site Saadaal News. Thought its authenticity has not been confirmed, passages of the text match excerpts previously cited in the initial Financial Times report. Abrar’s abrupt resignation… Read More ›
Mogadishu is Heaven. Mogadishu is Hell.
With each report coming out of Mogadishu, optimists and pessimists prop up their narrative. Mogadishu is heaven. Mogadishu is hell. Descriptions in the media are full of quizzical paradoxes. In a recent piece entitled, “Flying into hostile territory: Somalia experiences boom in… Read More ›
Journalist, Lawyers Among Dead in al-Shabaab Attack in Mogadishu
As many as 34 people were killed and almost 60 injured in a set of coordinated attacks by al-Shabaab in Mogadishu involving suicide bombers, gunmen, and two separate car bomb attacks. A car bomb was detonated at the entrance of the Supreme… Read More ›