Somalis defy al Shaabab militants to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s birthday
Some young people filmed the processions on their phones, livestreaming chants to friends abroad, while others hoisted banners adorned with verses of praise. Security forces, rifles slung over their shoulders, stood at the edges of the crowds, scanning for threats but unable to suppress the festive mood.
Horn, Eastern African states agree to integrate migration data to inform policy making
Speaking in Mombasa during the Seventh Regional Migration Data Technical Working Group meeting, IGAD Director of Health and Social Development, Ambassador Moussa Meigague Ali said member-states are committed to advancing evidence-based approaches to managing migration and displacement challenges.
Cut to the bone: In Kenya refugee camps, meat, fish and fruit are now absent, while onions, greens or tomatoes are rare treats
Reducing aid budgets is a grave mistake, a moral failure. If budgets must shrink, the axe should not fall on humanitarian aid. Reductions should target areas where they cause less harm, such as development programmes in middle-income countries that can better absorb the shock.
Somali capital Mogadishu is one of cities urbanising rapidly but weak state and clan politics leave its displaced in limbo
Clan dynamics are a particular complication. Mogadishu is dominated by powerful major clans, especially the Hawiye. The majority of IDPs, however, are from marginalised so-called minority groups, including farm-based Bantu people.
Al Shaabab announce death of three Kenyan solders in blast, unusually doesn’t claim responsibility
Al Shabaab controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia and frequently makes cross-border attacks on military and civilian targets, which security analysts say are aimed at pressuring Kenya into withdrawing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.
Elders in terror-prone northeastern Kenya meet to evaluate ethnic relations in fragile region rocked by clan hostilities
In the coming days, the elders plan to launch a community sensitisation campaign and a peace caravan led by religious leaders (ulamaa) to spread messages of reconciliation and unity. There will also be a coordinated effort to mobilize support for the safe return of displaced persons to their homes and villages.
Al-Shabaab is 18 years old: six factors behind the Somali militant group’s resilience
The west and its African partners have focused on the “hearts and minds” approach to counterinsurgency in Somalia. Building democratic institutions and democracy is part of this strategy. But these are institutions that don’t always function in a war zone, and fail to have the intended effects.
Humanitarian aid trap: Somali official calls for state control over aid funds as ‘aid community actors are only accountable to themselves’
Budget support is justified, Ainte said, because the government is responsible for what happens in Somalia, even if the conflict means it does not control all of the country’s territory. Ainte did not specify which institutions might work with the government to programme any redirected money, though he mentioned it could be done by UN agencies.
A leap into hellish Mogadishu, then I realise Daadab camp in Kenya may be heaven on earth
‘I’ve been caught three times in explosions and gun battles already, and I worry that one day my luck might run out.’ I can’t take this city anymore – I need to get out. I’ve spent 10 months trying to build a better future for myself, and now I admit...
