On April 28, Somalia announced 48 new coronavirus cases, including the first confirmed positive tests in the Southwest region. The total case load in the country has reached 528, with 28 confirmed deaths. The new cases in the Southwest region… 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 ›
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 ›
The International Peace Institute’s Global Observatory has published a must-read primer on how the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is funded — written by George Washington University Associate Professor Paul D. Williams. The article covers: What AMISOM Financing Issues Are… Read More ›
This week, a Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) soldier serving under AMISOM was demoted and sentenced to a year in jail in an ongoing corruption trial in which 17 others face similar charges for illegally selling military supplies and fuel in… Read More ›
Since the Somalia National Army (SNA) vacated Marka on 12 July allegedly due to unpaid salaries, AMISOM and al-Shabaab have engaged in a social media battle about who really controls the town. After Al-Shabaab claimed to recapture of the town, AMISOM quickly posted… Read More ›
In a 27 April press statement, the European Union (EU) stated it cut salaries to AMISOM by 20% due to “competing priorities in Africa and the world in general” but relayed its intent to continue supporting the mission’s efforts against al-Shabaab. As indicated… Read More ›
KISMAYO TALKS FAIL: At a recent summit, Somali leaders failed to reach a consensus on an election format for the next parliament, whose MPs are to elect a president later this year. New UN Envoy Michael Keating, who just arrived in Mogadishu,… Read More ›
Al-Shabaab released audio from two Kenyan soldiers who were taken hostage during the attack on AMISOM’s base in El Adde last Friday. The Star newspaper claims that al-Shabaab are holding 10 other Kenyan soldiers hostage. The hostages only describe details of the… Read More ›
In the early morning of 15 January, “several hundred” al-Shabaab militants overran an AMISOM base in El Adde, about 30mi southwest of Garbahaarey in Somalia’s Gedo region. Al-Shabaab claimed the Saleh Nabhan brigade carried out the operation. The brigade was created… Read More ›
This week, Ethiopian military leaders and Somalia’s southwest regional president Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan presided over two ceremonies for troops that had recently graduated military training. The first occurred in Diinsoor around 24 December where two hundred Darawish paramilitary forces reportedly completing training:… Read More ›
Al-Shabaab’s strength and ability is weakening, but the group remains the biggest threat in the region, according to a senior American military official for east Africa. The threat of ISIS is also believed to have grown since 2014, according to a Marine… Read More ›
On the early morning of 1 September, a reported 200 al-Shabaab militants raided an AMISOM base in the Lower Shabelle town of Janaale, killing between 20 and 50 Ugandan troops while 50 others are believed to be missing. Al-Shabaab used… Read More ›
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