Say what you want about Fidel Castro, in Africa he was a liberator. His aid to the South African anti-apartheid struggle will forever be remembered as a grand stroke of moral leadership, in great contrast to American policy.That’s the theme of various sympathetic postmortems for the Cuban dictator, who died...

At least 10 killed after residents take up arms against fighters for trying to impose tax in central Galmudug region.At least 10 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in fighting that erupted over a tax dispute between al-Shabab and armed residents in Somalia's central state of Galmudug. (more…)

Gal'ad, Somalia - "Line up in a straight line. We will do the talking on your behalf," an elderly man with a henna-dyed beard tells the group of young men. They are standing in front of an iron-gated compound in the centre of the town of Gal'ad in Somalia's central...

Raped, abused and subjected to genital mutilation, many women suffer terribly in Somalia, an unrepentantly patriarchal country shown by successive surveys as one of the worst places to be female.A quota reserving 30 percent of parliamentary seats for women in current elections is supposed to help bring change and place...

NEWS ANALYSIS In late October, a faction of Somali militants aligned to Islamic State and led by long-time cleric Abdulkadir Mumin, walked into the town of Qandala along Somalia’s northern coast in the Bari region of Puntland, meeting little resistance. Whether or not they subsequently retreated to the town’s outskirts...

People and Power investigates the rise of piracy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. The event followed a now familiar pattern: a small convoy of dusty 4x4 vehicles drove on to the edge of the airstrip at Galkayo in Puntland, north-central Somalia; armed security guards took up watchful positions nearby...

Today’s statement by the Government of Kenya on its continued search for solutions for refugees at Dadaab is welcome.  Kenya has been generously hosting and protecting Somali refugees over many years in line with its international obligations. We are glad that this remains Kenya’s position. (more…)

Refugees are among the most vulnerable people on the planet. They generally teeter between statelessness and total damnation. I know because I was a refugee in Tanzania from 1981 to 1984. My condition wasn’t the worst because I was an “elite refugee.” I was able to attend the University of...

60 million people are facing a food crisis but the public has not heard about it. This is roughly the same as the number of refugees in the world, and is also a global phenomenon. But the crisis has not made the headlines because it was a slow, creeping disaster.The...