Basillioh Rukanga Kenyan senators have voted to remove Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua from office despite his failure to testify at his impeachment trial after his lawyer said he had been taken to hospital. In one of the most dramatic days in Kenya’s recent political history, Gachagua had been due to appear in the Senate after lunch to defend himself, a...
April 30, 2025
Reflecting on “clan” respectively “kinship system” among Somalis: A rejoinder to Sagal Mohamed Ashour
By Markus Virgil Hoehne Recently, on 14 October 2024, Sagal Mohamed Ashour published a think-piece in HornDiplomat . In it she addresses the negative effects of what she calls the “clan system” on politics in the Somali territories. In particular, she focuses on the upcoming elections in Somaliland, the crisis over Lasanod and challenges in southern Somalia regarding the fight...
UN agencies vow to scale up investments to boost food production in Somalia
MOGADISHU (Xinhua) – The United Nations agencies on Wednesday expressed commitment to helping Somalia increase investments to boost food production as the country marked World Food Day. The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), held a joint event in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, to...
Kenya’s deputy president pleads not guilty in impeachment process
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s deputy president, who faces impeachment, pleaded not guilty in a senate hearing Wednesday to all allegations including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and support for anti-government protests that saw demonstrators storm the country’s parliament. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who has called the allegations politically motivated, could be the first sitting deputy president impeached in Kenya. The case highlights...
Kenya’s High Court rejects move to stop deputy president’s impeachment debate
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday rejected an application by the deputy president’s lawyers to stop the senate from debating an impeachment motion against him after parliament voted to remove him from office last week. Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that parliament will be allowed to proceed with its constitutional mandate and the court won’t “interfere.” Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s...
Why there’s a rush of African satellite launches
Chris Baraniuk One by one, the satellites – each of them encrusted with a hodge-podge of solar panels and other gizmos – detached from their mothership. They had blasted off from Earth just an hour earlier, on 16 August. The 116 satellites onboard the launch vehicle were mostly designed and built by Western nations and businesses – but one of...
Sheikh Hassan Barsane: The Resistance Leader Against Ethiopia and Italy
Dr. Abdurahman Baadiyow In the last quarter of the 19th century, extending into the early 20th century, as the European powers extended control in the Horn of Africa, scholars of Islam became leading figures in the organization and leadership of Somali resistance. These scholars saw the defense of Muslim lands against Christian invaders-the Italians, British, French, and Ethiopians-as an Islamic...
Drug abuse corrodes rural society in central Somalia
(ERGO) – Community leaders are alarmed by the growing misuse of the painkiller Tramadol among rural pastoralists in central Somalia’s Galgadud region. Police, medical officers, and elders say that despite the adherence to traditional customs among these communities, increasing violent crime and social breakdown is being fuelled by the abuse of readily available drugs. Radio Ergo spoke to one man,...
Kenyan governor, MP arrested after clan clashes leave 18 dead
NAIROBI, Kenya – A Kenyan regional governor Dhado Godhana was arrested late Saturday following violent clashes that have killed 18 people in the last week. Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Ibrahim Amin confirmed to reporters that Godhana and Galole MP Hiribae Said Buya were arrested after failing to respond to a police summons concerning their possible connection to the ongoing clashes....
World Bank cuts 2024 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa over Sudan
NAIROBI (Reuters) – The World Bank said on Monday it had lowered its economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa this year to 3% from 3.4%, mainly due to the destruction of Sudan’s economy in a civil war. However, growth is expected to remain comfortably above last year’s 2.4% thanks to higher private consumption and investment, the bank said in its...