With over a decade of experience, Sahan provides expert security analysis, risk management, and policy advisory across the Horn of Africa—backed by unique access to key networks and real-time insights into regional threats.
Sahan supports good governance across the Horn of Africa by facilitating inclusive political processes, producing evidence-based insights, and guiding institutional reform through locally grounded, transparent approaches.
Sahan provides strategic geopolitical research and analysis on the Horn of Africa, examining external influence, political transitions, and regional security to support informed, evidence-based policymaking.
Sahan offers expert-led professional development seminars—both public and customized—equipping policymakers, diplomats, and analysts with practical tools and insights to address political, security, and geopolitical challenges in the Horn of Africa.
Since October 2020, the Somali Wire has led the way in reporting accurate and timely news from Somalia and beyond. Offering coverage of politics, security, economics and more, this bulletin remains one of the most widely cited and respected sources on Somalia.
Launched in August 2021, the Ethiopian Cable delves into Ethiopia’s complex political and socio-economic landscape. Published every Tuesday, each edition features key stories translated from Amharic and Tigrinya, providing context-rich coverage of current events.
The Horn Edition, launched in September 2023, casts a spotlight on developments across the wider Horn of Africa. Created in response to the conflict in Sudan, it provides a region-wide perspective through curated and summarised stories from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan.
7 Publications
6 Media Mentions
5 The Research and Evidence Facility (REF)
In December 2023, the final elements of the UN Security Council sanctions regime were lifted on the Somali federal government. Mogadishu's celebrations were rapturous, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declaring that Mogadishu could now "purchase any weapons needed" and that "friendly nations and allies" could hand over the "necessary weapons without any limitations or restrictions." After years of lobbying, the final albatross around the neck of the federal government was to be lifted, and the Somali National Army (SNA) handed the heavy firepower required to conquer Al-Shabaab once and for all. Of course, over 18 months on, quite the reverse has happened, with Al-Shabaab having swept across much of central Somalia since February-- despite the glut of Egyptian and Turkish weapons donated to Villa Somalia in the past year. And Puntland's seizure of the MV Sea World, a Comorian-flagged vessel carrying Turkish arms and armoured vehicles last week, has thrown the question of the lifting of the arms embargo back into the open.
As Sudan experiences its third lean season since the start of the civil war, the humanitarian crisis continues to rapidly deteriorate. First officially declared in August 2024, famine continues to sweep across the country as fighting intensifies in Darfur and Kordofan. The latest UN Integrated Food Security Phase Classification update warns that Phase 5 (Famine) could spread to 17 additional areas, with 8.5 million people in Phase 4 (Emergency) and over 756,000 in Phase 5 (Famine). The scale of hunger is unprecedented in Sudan’s history, with nearly half of Sudan’s 50 million people now acutely food insecure and 637,000 facing “catastrophic” hunger – the highest figure globally, according to WFP. This is not just a by-product of war, but a deliberate tactic used to weaken and manipulate vulnerable populations. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have weaponised starvation through systematic obstruction, looting, and destruction of food systems.
On 11 June, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized a strategic tri-border zone between Sudan, Libya, and Egypt, known as Jebel Uweinat. Declaring the area "liberated" from a small Sudanese army border garrison, the capture of remote Jebel Uweinat will provide the paramilitaries with further access to Libya's porous southern frontier and their ally, the Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, as well as Sudan's northern states. Amidst this flashpoint, which will allow the RSF to continue to funnel in weapons and supplies, the broader, destructive armed conflict remains intractable, with no credible political or peace process in sight.