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Sahan Research Limited
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 publication stands out as a highly reputable source, widely cited. Sahan is proud to be the only organization in East Africa to provide a comprehensive thrice-weekly bulletin with translated and verified news on Somalia.
Inside Al-Shabaab’s Information Warfare
Every Thursday, Somalis can tune into Radio Andalus, an Al-Shabaab-affiliated radio station, to listen in to a jihadist commander wax lyrical about their upbringing and commitment to the cause. In one such recent interview with Al-Shabaab’s appointed Banaadir Governor, Muse Abdi Arraale, he recounts his life, having grown up in Hargeisa before joining Waxda Al-Shabaab Al-Islamiyya (Islamic Youth Unity group) as a teenager and being imprisoned by the Siad Barre regime. Explicitly tying himself to groups beyond Al-Qaeda proper, such interviews represent an attempt to both position these extremist commanders in Somalia’s Islamist history as well as humanise them.
The jihadist protection racket and the conflict economy
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab jihadist armed insurrection has entered its 18th year with no let-up in violence or any sign the conflict is close to a resolution. Indeed, Al-Shabaab is resurgent and remains as lethal as ever, having displayed its continued prowess after sweeping across much of central Somalia in its Ramadan offensive– and beyond– earlier this year. But what allows Al-Shabaab to thrive is not solely the ability to project military power or deploy intimidatory violence, but also the o!en under-reported, extensive and insidious rent-seeking and control of local economies as well.
The Lost Voices of Somali Women
In the 1970s, Somalia was widely regarded as a kind of cultural Mecca, with ‘Swinging Mogadishu’ at its heart. Dhaanto music provided a soundtrack to the decade in the country’s modern cultural golden age, and one where women were particularly prominent. Plays, music, and art flourished privately and under the state’s support, with nightclubs and bars dotted throughout the capital in which men and women mingled freely. The term ‘MogaDisco’ is sometimes ascribed to the eclectic mix of Somali disco, reggae, soul and funk that was popularised in these years.
In the 1970s, Somalia was widely regarded as a kind of cultural Mecca, with 'Swinging Mogadishu' at its heart. Dhaanto music provided a soundtrack to the decade in the country's modern cultural golden...
Strolling through Galkacyo in Puntland and Kismaayo in Jubaland in the early 1990s, it was not uncommon to see young Somalis wearing t-shirts adorned with 'Galkacyo and Kismaayo are free' or words to...
Disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) in Somalia has long been a politically fraught and contested process. With more guns than people and dozens of militias operating outside any...
The ongoing Ugandan-led 'Operation Silent Storm' to dislodge Al-Shabaab from three key bridge towns in Lower Shabelle represents essentially a rehash of the 'Operation Badbaado' (Salvation) campaign...
Since the collapse of the Somali state in the 1990s, the country's private sector has played a particularly prominent role in service delivery, flourishing in the cracks le! by the absence of a...
In the early 2010s, a select group of Somalia's allies came together to form C6+, a forum to discuss how best to
support the country's state-building process. Including the African Union, Kenya...
Somaliland's regional diplomatic blitz continues. Having travelled to Djibouti and Kenya at the end of May, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi 'Irro' is anticipated to depart for...
Puntland's kinetic anti-Islamic State-Somalia (ISS) operations in the Al-Miskaad Mountains are nearing their
conclusion. Launched in February, 'Operation Hilaac' (Lightning) has sought to degrade the...
Somalia's latest plunging crisis has divided not only the usual domestic political actors but the 'international
community' as well - if such a thing even exists anymore. Though nominally on the same...
