Just as an international conference promises more peacekeepers, an Islamist leader returns to Mogadishu to drive them out
- Vol 50 No 6
- 20th March 2009
Expensive naval alliances have formed to deter the sea raiders
who prey on ships off the Horn
- Vol 50 No 6
- 20th March 2009
Ransom payments range from US$500,000 to $3 million. The total since January 2008 is about $50-80 mn. Legal fees for a typical case are around $300,000, plus $100,000 for a ransom negotiator. Delivering a payment costs $1 mn. for ex-military guards and th...
- Vol 50 No 4
- 20th February 2009
Goodwill accompanies the new President but few people look at the small print
- Vol 50 No 4
- 20th February 2009
Al Shabaab looks weak and divided as the new regime takes hold in Mogadishu. This is only half true, though. The departure of Ethiopian troops is a strategic loss for the group. 'Jihad!' was a good slogan for Somalis who saw their country as occupied by a...
- Vol 50 No 3
- 6th February 2009
Ethiopia's troops are gone and another transitional government is installed but the new order is tenuous
- Vol 49 No 25
- 12th December 2008
As Islamist militias prepare for a final strike on Mogadishu, another Islamist leader signs a power-sharing deal and talks of peace
- Vol 49 No 25
- 12th December 2008
Ethiopia argues that its withdrawal from Somalia will help the power-sharing talks brokered by the United Nations Special Representative Ahmadou Ould Abdallah. A principal condition for the participation of Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s faction of the Alliance fo...
- Vol 49 No 24
- 28th November 2008
Mercenaries, the media and worried looking men in suits are much exercised by the escalating operations of the Somali pirates patrolling the Gulf of Aden in search of booty. In fact, the pirates stepped up operations a year ago (AC Vol 49 No 15), but then...
- Vol 49 No 22
- 31st October 2008
Al Shabaab claims attacks even when they have nothing to do with them, but who are 'The Youth'?