One day after al-Shabaab’s attack on the Camp Simba airstrip in Kenya, many more details are emerging about the casualties and retaliatory responses. Most importantly: Nine years after invading Somalia to confront al-Shabaab, Kenya has failed to secure its border…. 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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
Piracy Somali pirates suffered some notable defeats in a week that also highlighted the capacity of Somali forces to contribute to counter-piracy operations. However, many of the factors that motivate piracy — including foreign illegal fishing, availability of weapons, perceived corruption over foreign fishing… Read More ›
ETHIOPIAN WITHDRAWALS: Ethiopian troops reportedly withdrew from three areas in central Somalia, including Ceelbuur, Dhusamareeb, and El-lahelay. Last October, Ethiopia made similar withdrawals citing “lack of support” from the international community for its Somalia operations, while some attributed it to the need to discuss… Read More ›
In the aftermath of al-Shabaab’s latest mass raid attack against Kenyan troops, the government showed it had not effectively applied lessons learned from the January 2016 El Adde attack where over 140 soldiers were thought to have been killed. At around 5 AM last… Read More ›
On Friday, 2 September, authorities in Somalia’s Southwest administration displayed four militants in Baidoa who reportedly confessed to being part of an aspirant ISIS-affiliated cell operated by Abudlkadir Mumin, whose thought to be based in the Puntland region. Somalia’s national news agency… 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 ›
Haki Africa, a human rights activist group in Kenya, is coordinating with the government to improve the country’s counter-extremism policy, one year after the government froze its account on accusations that it supported al-Shabaab. The organization’s director Hussein Khalid explained the consultation… Read More ›
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