Reports of Al Qaeda’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Al Qaeda is returning to the shadows. The experiment by al-Shabab, al Qaeda's Somali affiliate, of attempting to govern a broad area in Somalia's south officially came to a close...
Burundi
Shabaab Abandons Western City as Ethiopian Troops Advance
As Ethiopian forces continue to press their offensive in Somalia, Shabaab forces have relinquished control of a key southern city that has been under the terror group's control for three yea...
Op-eds
How the UN Achieves Sustainable Peacekeeper Rape
Year after year, since 2005, the United Nations has proclaimed its “zero-tolerance” policy...
Op-eds
Shabaab Publishes IDs, Information on Slain Burundian Soldiers
Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked terror group based in Somalia, announced on Radio Furqaan that it has the identification car...
Op-eds
Suicide Bomber Kills 15 Somalis in Mogadishu
A Shabaab suicide bomber killed 15 Somalis in an attack in Mogadishu today as Kenyan forces advance against the terror group in the south. The suicide attack occurred near the old foreig...
Op-eds
It’s Madness to Raise Foreign Aid While Cutting Back At Home
Foreign aid is often counter-productive. But why on earth are we increasing it while preaching austerity at home.
Op-eds
Somalia Still Sinking as Eritrea Entertains Enemies
September has not been a good month in the sometime Somali capital of Mogadishu, even by the relative standards of a failed state that has not had an effective central government in the sixteen y...
Op-eds
Bad Faith Actor
In the pantheon of United Nations causes, Africa by many measures occupies a preeminent role. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has described “the African challenge” as “the highest...
Op-eds
Thinking about Terrorism and Other Security Challenges in Africa
In last week's column, surveying developments in the former Somalia, Sudan, the Maghreb and Sahel, Nigeria and West Africa, and the rest of the continent, I concluded that "Through the c...
Op-eds
The War on Terrorism in Africa: Assessment and Prospects
The end of one year and the beginning of another is a good time both to take stock of where we have been and to look ahead at the paths we are likely to take and the battles which we will have to...
Op-eds
American Shabaab Commander Alive, Says US intel
An American citizen who serves as a senior Shabaab military commander and propagandist is thought to be still alive, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal, disputing a report from l...
Op-eds
Somalia in Need of New Approach Two Decades after State Collapse
Last week marked the twentieth anniversary of the night when Mohamed Siyad Barre, president of the last entity that could plausibly be described as the government of Somalia, fled Mogadishu in hi...
Op-eds
Yemeni al Qaeda Commander Reported Killed in Mogadishu Clash
An al Qaeda commander from Yemen who led a group of foreign fighters battling the Somali government and African Union forces was reported killed in Mogadishu. The commander, Rajah Abu Kh...
Op-eds
Somalia’s New Prime Minister: Not Quite What the Doctor Ordered
Just when it seems things can get no worse for Somalia's dubiously legitimate, utterly ineffective, and wholly self-serving "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG), the embattled clique pull...
Op-eds
A Subtle, But Significant, Shift in U.S. Somali Policy Opens the Door to Realism
Last Friday, speaking in New York to reporters one day after attending a major meeting on Somalia chaired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the margins of the 65th session the Un...
Op-eds
Suicide Bomber Detonates Inside Somalia’s Presidental Compound
A Shabaab suicide bomber entered the presidential compound in Mogadishu today and detonated his vest. The suicide bomber penetrated security at the main gate of the base as an African Un...
Op-eds
The African Union’s Beleaguered Somalia Mission
Co-Authored with Seungwon Chung Being an African Union peacekeeper in Somalia must be one of the world's worst jobs, even in a down economy. The African Union Mission...
Op-eds
Uganda attack carried out by Shabaab cell named after slain al Qaeda leader
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. Click to view. The top leader of Shabaab said that the deadly attacks in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, were carried out by a cell named after an al...
Op-eds
Al Shabaab’s Grim Milestone In Uganda
Bad as the twin blasts that rocked the Ugandan capital of Kampala on Sunday were—and with a death toll of at least 74, they represent a considerable tragedy—the overall carnage could...
Op-eds
The Jihad Against Uganda
The terror group Shabab al Jihad of Somalia is all business when it threatens its victims with attacks. For weeks and months, the mouthpieces of the jihadist organization battling the Somali gove...