Strategic Thinking on East Africa

DEVELOPING: A team of gunmen took hotel guests hostage after storming the building in a Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu on Saturday, police have revealed. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gate of the Nasa-Hablod hotel near the capital’s busy KM-4 junction, followed by a second explosion heard inside the hotel as gunmen fought […]

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Strathink came across this interesting piece on al Shabaab from OurManintheHorn.com   BY OURMANONTHEHORNIN TERRORISM Based on open source material and testimony from recent defectors, the aim of this post is to provide an insight into the current state of al-Shabaab (aS). As we enter Ramadan, a period that is traditionally accompanied by an upsurge […]

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Horn Affairs Posted on Thursday, June 9, 2016 @ 12:01 pm by Fetsum Berhane Al-Shabaab lost several dozens fighters after an attack on an Ethiopian outpost of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The group attacked a military outpost in Halgan (Habden) town of central Somalia, around 300 km of capital Mogadishu, on Thursday, a […]

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Philip Hammond visits as British troops deploy to support UN security effort Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, visited Somalia on 2 June as part of a three day security visit to East Africa. The UK is the only EU country to maintain an Embassy in Somalia and has taken a lead in coordinating international support for […]

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By Omar Nor, Joel Williams and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN)Suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen set off an explosion and stormed a popular hotel in Somalia’s capital Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, police said. At least 40 others were injured in the attack on Mogadishu’s Ambassador Hotel, according to Capt. Da’ud Hajji, a senior […]

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Aid groups warn that forcing hundreds of thousands of refugees out would create instability and a humanitarian disaster. Charlotte AlfredWorld Reporter, The Huffington Post TONY KARUMBA VIA GETTY IMAGES Over 350,000 people live in Dadaab in northeast Kenya, the largest refugee camp in the world. When Kenya threatened last Friday to shut down the largest […]

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By Mohamed Amin Jibril HARGEYSA, 13 May 2016 Somalia has made a $1 million donation to the drought-hit breakaway northwestern region of Somaliland, ahead of controversial talks between the two sides later this month to clarify their future relations. Mogadishu, far from one of the world’s flushest governments, has been quick to point out the […]

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Foreign Policy Outmaneuvered by al-Shabab in Somalia, is the Islamic State gunning for a comeback next door? BY TY MCCORMICK NAIROBI — Kenyan authorities claim to have foiled a “large-scale” biological terrorist plot by militants linked to the Islamic State (IS), raising fears that the Iraq- and Syria-based group may be extending its influence in […]

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From The Heritage Institute Background International and regional efforts to increase the effective participation of women in peace building and in the reconstruction and development of societies have gained momentum in the past two decades. In 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 formally addressed the need to change women’s continued exclusion from participation […]

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GILAD SHILOACH The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a terror attack in Somalia—its first-ever attack in the East African nation. In an official statement circulated by the group’s supporters on Twitter and Telegram, ISIS said its fighters detonated a car bomb targeting forces belonging to the African Union Forces—peacekeeping troops—on the outskirts of the capital […]

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