The political opportunism pursued by the controversial Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan has set in motion a chain reaction that has dispelled all claims of legitimacy, sustainability and functionality of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), also known as the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI). Further efforts to support TFG (TFI) [...]

One more time, the International Community (IC) led by the United States is confronted with the urgent necessity to develop a “comprehensive strategy” for Somalia after the counter-terrorism-centered strategy, primarily delegated to Ethiopia (IGAD), has utterly failed. This necessity existed when Obama Administration came into office.  Indeed, Prof Ken Menkhaus wrote in February 2009, “While [...]

In recent months, many in the United States seem to have given up on Somalia. In March, for example, the Council on Foreign Relations issued a special report calling for a “new” policy of “constructive disengagement” from our country — in other words, the withdrawal of international support for the Somali government. That idea is [...]

Somali people will commemorate this month, the 50th anniversary of their independence, divided and fighting on the meaning of Islam and Shari’a. The aftermath of 9/11 events and the emergence of the Islamic Courts in 2006 ushered new political reality in Somalia. Jihadist Al-Shabab linked to al-Qa’ida dominates large parts of fertile regions of the [...]

    While the current Somali transitional government is by no means perfect, there are at least a couple of things it has been doing right: putting in place various apparatuses to pave the way for good governance, and laying the foundation to reestablish law and order. Granted, these two developments are only moving at [...]

The American military has been constantly engaged since the end of the Cold War. Washington has initiated conflict against Serbia, Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan. U.S. forces have occupied Haiti, Somalia and the Balkans. There has been much talk of attacking Iran and North Korea. The Bush administration apparently even considered striking Russian forces during Moscow’s [...]

In our series of viewpoints from African journalists, Zimbabwean filmmaker and columnist Farai Sevenzo warns Africa’s paranoid leaders to keep their backs against the wall until April. The month of March, I am told by those in the know, is the month of the backstabbers. It was in the middle of March that Julius Caesar [...]

  Islam’s holy sites cannot remain unchanged. But the suggestion that a new ‘Ka’bah’ be constructed in Sinai has ruffled feathers You wait for a story about Mecca all year and then two come along at once. First it was Egyptian writer and academic Sayyed al-Qimni suggesting Mount Sinai as an affordable religious tourism destination [...]

The row over Joe Biden’s visit gives Washington the chance to dispense with endless talks about talks and push for real peace. Things might get tense in the green room next week at the Walter E Washington Convention Centre in Washington, DC. Among the guest speakers at the annual conference of the American Israel Public [...]

Israel’s Prime Minister has often tried, and succeeded, in having it both ways on the question of a peace deal – talking to the US, in vague but emollient tones, about a two-state solution while palming off his right-wing allies with pledges of more Jewish settlements on the West Bank.  The escalating row between Benjamin [...]