African leaders who hold power indefinitely often employ cults of personality to consolidate power, demand personal fealty, and systematically undermine independent governance institutions. When long-serving, neo-patrimonial leaders in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Zimbabwe, and Sudan were
Cutting off al Shabaab’s estimated $100 million in extortion-generated annual revenue will require restoring the integrity of Somalia’s compromised financial, judicial, and intelligence agencies. Despite setbacks, al Shabaab remains a resilient and destabilizing threat in
In Part II of this series, we left with a note that basically said that the Horn of Africa States is not a perfect place and doing business in the region, is not easy, but
Known as Africa’s “last colony” Western Sahara is a stretch of desert territory along part of Africa’s Atlantic coast, bordering Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania. The tragic story of Western Sahara is one of a decolonization
Casualties mounted in Las Anod as the troops of Somaliland, a separatist breakaway region from Somalia with no international recognition of its claim to sovereignty, continued attempts to reoccupy the city. Las Anod is at
Furious over a Nigerian military raid that killed 41 fighters on March 19, Islamic State West African Province (Iswap) commander has executed his deputy for failing to stop the attack. Deputy Iswap commander Abu Darda
The chief bombmaker and a high ranking member of the Boko Haram Terrorist Group, Awana Gaidam, has been killed by his own Improvised Explosive Device, IED. The 39 year-old bomb maker, apart from his high
Gangs that smuggle gold and launder money, that is what the Gold Mafia investigation is about. But who are they exactly? They are rival gangs — with many different characters. From new-age pastors to old-school
West Darfur’s recent tribal attacks killed six people and forced over 30,000 people to flee to neighbouring Chad said UN OCHA on Monday. Members of the Mararit tribe stoned to death two Arab suspected of
The U.S. ambassador to Somalia said the Somali government’s military operations against al-Shabab have cost the militants one third of their territory. “Somali-led offensives have restored Somalia’s sovereignty to 1/3 of the territory formerly misruled