Here are seven things to know about Somalia’s cycle of crisis in 2022. In the last two years, Somalia has been hit by multiple floods, a cyclone, swarms of locusts, and Covid-19 — all coming hot on the heels of a decades-long drought and conflict. All of this creates layers of complexity and an ongoing cycle of crisis. Here...
November 10, 2026
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Hungry drought-stricken families in Bakool welcome food aid
Abdifatah Ahmed Hassan was extremely glad that his large family of two wives and 12 children were able to add a second meal to their paltry daily diet, after receiving emergency food aid targeting families severely affected by the drought in southwestern Somalia. He was among 1,300 drought-displaced families in Elbarde and Rabdhure districts of...
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A Rebuttal to a Misguided Colonial Anthropologist
By Deeq Yusuf & Adan Makina Recently, we came across a widely circulated YouTube video that was on the concept of federalism by the Laureate Professor Emeritus Prof. Cheryl Saunders of Melbourne University Law School on Federalism, wherein she objects that federalism will not work in Somalia while giving Ethiopia the upper hand. Why Federalism...
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‘People die at home’: Tigray medical services struggle after turmoil of war
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A diabetic mother died as her daughter searched the capital of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region for insulin. Women gave birth unattended in the dark because their hospital had no electricity or staff at night. Accounts from residents, medical workers and humanitarian groups illustrate people’s plight as Ethiopia struggles to revive a heavily...
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In Somalia, COVID-19 vaccines are distant as virus spreads
By HASSAN BARISE MOGADISHU, Somalia — As richer countries race to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, Somalia remains the rare place where much of the population hasn’t taken the coronavirus seriously. Some fear that’s proven to be deadlier than anyone knows. “Certainly our people don’t use any form of protective measures, neither masks nor social distancing,” Abdirizak Yusuf Hirabeh, the government’s...
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A Somali mother fights for her son’s survival
“It was dry, very dry. There was no water, nothing to eat.” Amina*, age 24, is a mother of five living in a camp for displaced families in Mogadishu, Somalia. Having made her living working on farms, she had to flee her home in the town of Buurhakaba after a drought destroyed her livelihood and...
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The plight of the Shona in Kenya who are demanding recognition after decades of statelessness
AMA NUNOO In the 1960s, about 100 Shona missionaries arrived in Kenya from Zimbabwe and Zambia to establish the Gospel of God Church. The move was accepted and welcomed by Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, but his successors have not done much to integrate the Shona. The descendants of these missionaries are stateless in Kenya. Despite living and...
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Somalia conflict: Al-Shabab ‘collects more revenue than government’
By Mary Harper Using intimidation and violence, Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab raises as much revenue as the country’s authorities, a report says. The militants collect at least $15m (£11m) a month, with more than half the amount coming from the capital, Mogadishu, the Hiraal Institute said. Some businesses pay both the jihadists and the...
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New Currency Notes Gets 1 Million Ethiopians Into Banking System
By Samuel Gebre and Simon Marks Ethiopia’s effort to stamp out counterfeiting by introducing new currency notes is pulling people who’ve never had a bank account into the financial system. Over the past four weeks, almost 1 million previously unbanked Ethiopians have handed in their two-decade-old banknotes, according to the central bank. In exchange, they were given a...
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Feared Shabab Exploit Somali Banking and Invest in Real Estate, U.N. Says
Despite sanctions, Shabab militants have found ways to extort, move and invest money using Somalia’s banking system, a United Nations panel says. By Abdi Latif Dahir NAIROBI, Kenya — The Shabab, the Somalia-based militant group that is Al Qaeda’s most powerful ally in Africa, is not only collecting millions of dollars in tariffs and payoffs but...