The rift between President Abdullahi Yusuf
Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi is in full
swing. The latest twist came when Attorney General Abdullahi
Dahir ordered the arrest of Supreme Court Chairman Yusuf
Ali Hirsi, a close ally of the Prime ...
Tension between Somaliland (created in 1991) and
the much less firmly established Puntland (created 1998) has been
running high. On 1 July, yet another state, Maakhir, was inaugurated
in northern Somalia and Puntland blamed that, unfairly, on Somalilan...
President Abdullahi's government makes some progress but it still
isn't trusted
With Somalia looking more settled, Ethiopia has
been looking towards Eritrea, which it sees as the regional
spoiler. On 8 June, Addis Ababa wrote to the United Nations Security
Council President calling for Chapter VII sanctions against Eritrea,
in or...
Ethiopia and others bet on the TFG
Eritrea now condemns foreign involvement in Somalia.
Last year, it sent large quantities of arms and fighters, and
a training mission, to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), then in
power. In January, President Issayas Afeworki sent a minister
to Nairobi ...
President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed claimed last week, in Addis
Ababa, that the situation in Mogadishu was improving. Very few
would agree now, after heavy fighting and mass casualties. The
level of fighting surprised both the Transitional Federal Governme...
Ethiopia is withdrawing its troops but the transitional government
is yet to start serious reconciliation efforts
The two most powerful clans in southern Somalia are the Habr
Gidir/Hawiye and the Darod (each with its own sub-clans). Habr
Gidir elders and sheikhs led the Islamic Courts Union (ICU); Habr
Gidir elders now widely feel - and resent - that the President...
AU summiteers have offered half the number of troops required for the peacekeeping force
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