Usama bin Laden's Al Qaida network could be preparing to attack Western targets in Africa for a third time, a panel of experts warned the United Nations Security Council last week. Surface-to-air missiles and explosives may have been smuggled into Somalia...
As the warlords talk on in Nairobi, their credibility gap is growing
After ten years of neglect, the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia is finally seeing action. The embargo was introduced in January 1992 but only last year did the UN attempt to give it force, by appointing a panel of experts. Ernst Jan Hogendoorn (Net...
New arms imports are likely to fuel new fighting, despite the UN embargo
The unrecognised Republic of Somaliland proved its durability on 3 May, with the peaceful succession to President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal.
A state in turmoil offers no safe haven for terrorists feeling
the onslaught in Afghanistan
Somalia is moving up the agenda: the United States believes Al Qaida may have used Al Itahaad's bases there as operational staging posts. In particular, that Al Itahaad operatives played a key role in ferrying money and materiel for Al Qaida's 1998 bombin...
Though recognised by the Organisation of African Unity, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and United Nations, the Transitional National Government (TNG, AC Vol 42 No 10) controls just a few Mogadishu streets. Despite a recent planeload of arms (...
Battling a powerful lobby for postponement, President of Somaliland Mohamed Ibrahim Egal is determined to hold a long-delayed constitutional referendum on 31 May. He wants voters to back a basic law confirming the independence his government proclaimed in...
Is there a new president in Somalia? Not quite. But Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, who took the oath of office on August 20, is the nearest thing the country has had to a recognised president since the fall of Mohamed Siad Barré in 1991.
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