A month into its new guise as the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) senior commanders met their counterparts from the Somali National Army (SNA) to strategise joint counter offensive operations against al-Shabaab. AUSSOM is the third identity of the African Union (AU) mission in the easternmost...

WASHINGTON — The main target in a series of U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State terror group in Somalia earlier this month is dead, according to the most recent assessment by military officials. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced late Tuesday that Islamic State attack planner Ahmed Maeleninine was killed along with...

The expression Black Hawk Down, the title of a Hollywood film, has become shorthand for a 1993 US military disaster in Somalia. Eighteen American soldiers lost their lives in the fighting that began on 3 October, but so did hundreds of Somalis. As Netflix launches a documentary about those events,...

A letter to Donald J. Trump from Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a Saudi prince and former government official who served as the head of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency from 1979 to 2001. He is a grandson of Saudi's founder King Abdulaziz and son of King Faisal. He...

A senior ISIL (ISIS) commander in Somalia has been captured, police and state media have said, as security forces continue a weeks-long offensive against the group. Abdirahman Shirwac Aw-Saciid, head of the group’s assassination squad, surrendered to authorities on Monday in the Cal Miskaad mountains, in the northeastern Puntland state,...

The Ankara Declaration, signed on December 12, 2024, under Turkey’s mediation, represents a significant diplomatic step to address longstanding tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia. The agreement seeks to balance Ethiopia’s need for maritime access with Somalia’s reaffirmation of territorial sovereignty. However, its non-binding framework and ambiguous provisions may give Ethiopia...