By SIMON NDONGA NAIROBI, Kenya, – The leader of the semi-autonomous Jubaland region of Somalia has refuted claims of charcoal and sugar smuggling through the port of Kismayu, and stated that Kenyan soldiers have been unfairly accused of the trade. Speaking during a press briefing in Nairobi on Friday President Ahmed Mohamed Islam pointed out...
By SIMON NDONGA NAIROBI, Kenya – The US Ambassador to Kenya Robert Godec is urging the government to investigate reports of graft within the Kenya Defence Forces involving an illegal sugar and charcoal smuggling racket in Somalia. Speaking following a meeting with Ethics and Anti-Corruption officials on Thursday, Godec described the allegations as worrying as...
By Faisal Roble On October 29, 2015, a German/Austrian journalist contacted me from Vienna for an interview about Somalia. Sooner after, several questions reflecting the prevailing view on Somalia hit my email rack: the bloody power struggle between moderate forces and terrorists and the prospect for the next twenty years; whether Somalia will be broken...
Image copyright Hailemariam Desalegn’s party won a landslide victory in May’s elections Ethiopia’s prime minister has told the BBC he is not afraid of criticism from journalists, despite the country’s reputation for stifling free speech. “Free media is very essential for the democratic process and… development,” Hailemariam Desalegn said. He insisted some bloggers and reporters...
BUSIA, Kenya, (Xinhua) — The second time she has participated in a vocational skills contest funded by a Chinese firm for young Kenyans, Charity Ojwang said the competition has opened a new door for her. Some 260 young Kenyans took part in this year’s contest dubbed Africa Tech Challenge which was held in August and...
By Osman Hassan Within the month of October, we had three State of the Nation discourses delivered by three different sources. Not surprisingly, three differing faces of Somalia’s state were given as seen by these different beholders : first, it was two maverick members of Parliament known for their patriotism and outspokenness, respectively Hon Mohamed...
By Ilya Gridneff A World Bank-backed committee criticized a deal in which a company partly owned by Saladin Security Ltd. was granted the rights to manage all aspects of Somalia’s fishing industry and said it should either be scrapped or renegotiated with reduced scope. Giving Mauritius-registered Somalia-Fishguard Ltd. responsibility to sell fisheries licenses and conserve...
By KEVIN J KELLEY At least three East African nations — Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan — are reported to be directly involved in the war raging in Yemen, a country a short distance from the Horn of Africa. Sudan recently acknowledged that it has dispatched a battalion of troops to Yemen to join a Saudi Arabia-led...
Somalia’s president says authorities are investigating a plane crash and the fate of survivors apparently taken captive by militant group al-Shabab. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told VOA’s Somali Service in an interview Friday that the plane fell into the hands of “bandits or militiamen” who kidnapped the passengers. The small plane was carrying between nine...
By Simon Allison, In Somaliland, most politicians are known by their nicknames. So President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud is ‘Silanyo,’ which translates to ‘skinny lizard’ – a throwback to his youth when he was tall and slim. President Silanyo is not skinny anymore, however, and nor should he be president – his term in office was...