In late January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon announced a review of Somalia’s weapons ban, which has been in effect since 1992. The new plan is to unhinge Somalia’s military potential, but not for altruistic…
Latest Articles
Is Religion Helping or Hindering Development in Africa Today?
Africans are the most religious people in the world today, existing entirely in a religious paradigm. It maintains an unprecedented all-encompassing hold on society and individual alike in the continent. Abrahamic religions constitute the largest…
Urban Planning Expert Gives an Insightful Look into Mogadishu
We had the fortune of finding Mitchell Sutika Sipus, an urban planning expert with experience in places like Kabul and Juba, to help break down the key areas of his latest project in Mogadishu. You…
Meet Somalia’s Resilient Jewish Pioneers
The most pioneering families and figures in Somali society belong to a proud albeit entirely secretive lineage which supersedes their outwardly-revered clan genealogies and perhaps even their sectarian oaths. It may seem bizarre, but in…
5 Things Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Can Do to Improve Somalia
5. Cut ties with the Arab League Revolts, sectarian strife, collapsed states, and potentially a new front in the War on Terror in the traditional Maghreb region–these are the images that define the Arab World…
What Is the African Renaissance?
You’ve probably heard the story of South Korea and Ghana. That just two generations ago, Ghana had a higher per capita GDP than its Asian counterpart, by about a 30% margin. Today, Ghana’s 1967 per…
Why Al-Qaeda Will Succeed in Mali Where It Failed in Somalia
France, and perhaps NATO too, are facing their greatest obstacle in the War on Terror since the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2006. The trouble now comes from Mali, a Muslim-majority state in…
Lessons Learned Twenty Years After Operation Restore Hope
Twenty years ago today, on December 5th, 1992, the United Nations launched a major peace-enforcement mission into Somalia, approving the deployment of nearly 30,000 troops. The U.S.-led Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was mandated to protect…
Exclusive Look Inside Puntland’s Electoral Preparation Process
In a year where locals have been targeted, harassed and, in the case of the late MP Abdisalan Sheikh Mohamud Shaybe, killed by terror organizations for wanting to create a platform where a democratic electoral…
Demanding Freedom For the People of Bay, Bakool, and Gedo
When the Somali civil war broke out in 1991, the country’s tribes quickly formed heavily armed factions based on tribal allegiances. In the South of Somalia, heavy fighting broke out between the Darod tribe which…
Follow Dissident Nation