Vol 50 No 19 | SOMALIAUNITED STATESSOMALILAND American airlift 25th September 2009 When United States special forces landed near the Shabaab-held Somalian town of Barawe to assassinate and carry off several members of the Al Shabaab jihadist group on 12 Septembe...
Vol 50 No 18 | DJIBOUTIERITREAETHIOPIASOMALIA Dangers and dilemmas in the Horn of Africa 11th September 2009 The most dangerous corner of Africa is its north-eastern Horn, where instability reigns and terrorism thrives on the antagonisms of its governments The fate of Somalia is in the balance, as the Transitional Federal Government struggles for control against Islamist insurgents. Eritrea and Ethiopia are engaged in an unremitting ...
Vol 50 No 17 | SOMALIAUNITED STATES Let my people go 28th August 2009 Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) will ask the United States to release a Somali terrorist suspect from Guantánamo Bay. Ismail Mahmoud Mohamed was a friend of ...
Vol 50 No 16 | SOMALIAUNITED STATES Washington backs the TFG 7th August 2009 Even before President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia met United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the first leg of her seven-nation African tour, Washington had m...
Vol 50 No 11 | SOMALIA Target Mogadishu 29th May 2009 An alliance between Al Shabaab and the Hizbul Islam militias looks determined to seize the capital but their arms suppliers face UN sanctions More than 200 people have been killed and over 50,000 people chased from their homes in this month's offensive by insurgents against President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's regime i...
Vol 50 No 9 | SOMALIA Keep someone else’s peace 1st May 2009 Just as an international conference promises more peacekeepers, an Islamist leader returns to Mogadishu to drive them out The return of Sheikh Hassan Dahir 'Aweys' to Mogadishu on 23 April may prove extremely dangerous for the shaky coalition government under Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (AC Vol 50 No 4...
Vol 50 No 6 | SOMALIA Anti-pirate alliance 20th March 2009 Expensive naval alliances have formed to deter the sea raiders who prey on ships off the Horn Millions of dollars, hundreds of troops and over two dozen ships from around the world chase pirates off the Somali coast (AC Vol 49 No 24). Yet the rate of pirate attacks remains ...
Vol 50 No 6 | SOMALIA The piracy menace 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 ...
Vol 50 No 4 | SOMALIA The Sheik Sharif show 20th February 2009 Goodwill accompanies the new President but few people look at the small print The outsiders who drive Somalia's uncertain peace process do not always see things as Somalis see them. This became apparent with the election on 31 January of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh...
Vol 50 No 4 | SOMALIA Where is Al Shabaab now? 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. 'J...
