Author: Abdihakim Siyad

There was a time when influence in Africa was measured in soldiers, military bases, political alliances and billions of dollars in development assistance. Today, influence can arrive quietly in the cargo hold of a military transport aircraft, take off from an airstrip hundreds of kilometres from the capital and appear in the sky as a small, almost silent machine capable of changing the balance of power on the ground. That is the new language of warfare in Africa: the drone. And few countries have mastered the diplomatic power of the drone as effectively as Türkiye. From Ethiopia to Mali, from…

Ethiopia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Somalia, Suleiman Dedefo, has departed Mogadishu after just over a year in office, bringing an unexpectedly short diplomatic tenure to an end at a particularly sensitive moment in relations between the two neighbouring countries. The Ethiopian Embassy in Mogadishu announced on Saturday, August 29, that embassy staff had bid farewell to Ambassador Suleiman following the “completion of his tenure” as he departed the Somali capital. The embassy did not provide further details on the circumstances surrounding his departure, and Ethiopia had not, at the time of the announcement, named a successor. The development immediately…

Somalia and Qatar have agreed to deepen their bilateral relationship and expand cooperation following high-level talks between Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in Doha. The meeting brought together senior leaders from the two countries at a time when Somalia is seeking to strengthen international partnerships to support its economic recovery, security efforts and broader development agenda. The talks underscored the growing importance of Qatar as a key Gulf partner for Somalia and highlighted the two governments’ shared interest in turning their close…

The debate over Kenya’s Equalisation Fund has burst into the open, exposing a deeper question at the heart of devolution: can Kenya truly achieve equitable development by distributing resources through formulas that do not fully account for the country’s enormous differences in geography, population density, infrastructure and historical marginalisation? The question has gained fresh urgency after Eldas Member of Parliament Adan Keynan delivered a blistering attack on the Equalisation Fund, declaring that the mechanism has failed to deliver its constitutional promise and should, in his words, be considered “dead completely.” Speaking in the presence of Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi,…

Somalia’s Supreme Court has once again entered the centre of the country’s political storm, and the timing could hardly be more consequential. On August 24, the court annulled the results of the July 30 elections for Galmudug’s House of Representatives and local councils, ruling that the process had not been conducted in accordance with the Constitution and electoral law. Chief Justice Baashe Yusuf Ahmed ordered fresh elections and directed that the existing Galmudug institutions remain in place in a caretaker capacity until a legally compliant electoral process is completed. On the surface, this is an electoral dispute. At a deeper…

As Wajir, Garissa and Mandera slide deeper into the heat of negotiated democracy, a disturbing question is confronting the region’s media fraternity: who is watching the politicians when the people assigned to watch them are increasingly accused of becoming part of the political machinery? There is a dangerous silence developing behind the microphones, cameras and social-media pages of North Eastern Kenya. It is a silence that does not come from the absence of news, but from the possibility that the people entrusted with reporting the news are increasingly becoming participants in the very political battles they are supposed to cover.…

Mogadishu is confronting a deeply disturbing question: what happens when the government that is supposed to protect citizens becomes the force standing between those citizens and their homes? The scenes emerging from Yaaqshiid district on Sunday have once again placed Somalia’s capital at the centre of a growing crisis over land, forced evictions, state power and the rights of ordinary citizens. In the Tookiyo neighbourhood, residents resisted an operation involving security forces and bulldozers as authorities moved to demolish homes on land the government says belongs to the state. Local reports said nearly 10 people were injured, while other accounts…

There is a political war quietly taking shape in North Eastern Kenya, and it is not yet a war of rallies, party nominations or competing presidential candidates, but rather a more consequential struggle over who gets to speak for North Eastern Kenya when Nairobi comes calling. And at the centre of that struggle stands one man: Aden Duale, a politician who has, for more than a decade, occupied a unique position in Kenya’s political architecture as a constituency politician, Majority Leader, Cabinet Secretary and one of President William Ruto’s most dependable political allies. But something has changed, because the question…

President William Ruto has offered his most detailed account yet of his troubled relationship with retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, revealing how repeated attempts at reconciliation failed and accusing his former boss of choosing opposition politics over the role of an elder statesman. President William Ruto has opened up on one of Kenya’s most consequential political fallouts, giving a rare and deeply personal account of his relationship with his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, and explaining why efforts to rebuild their once-powerful political alliance have repeatedly failed. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Nation at State House, Nairobi, on Friday, August 21,…

There are professions that demand knowledge, and then there are professions that demand something more: the courage to walk into difficult places, confront difficult problems and remain committed to solutions long after the applause has faded. Engineering is one of them. In Mandera, where drought, distance, fragile infrastructure and an unforgiving climate can turn access to water into a daily struggle, the work of a water engineer carries a significance far beyond drawings, measurements and technical reports. It touches health, dignity, livelihoods and the future of entire communities. For Engineer Hibaaq, that responsibility has become a purpose. Her journey, however,…