The international order has undergone a period of transition in recent years. Regional contexts are gaining relevance and autonomy. As a result, local actors have forced global actors to reposition themselves regionally. Given this context, liberal principles and values are facing more challenges. And so are the countries that have
Several weeks ago, the date April 14 marked ten years since Boko Haram conducted the infamous abduction of more than 250 girls in the Northeastern Borno State village of Chibok in 2014. The abductions, however, were largely unreported in local or international media until three weeks later. It was at
In February 2024, Turkey and Somalia signed a defense and economic cooperation agreement that allegedly enables Ankara to protect Somalia’s territorial waters and to construct, equip, and train the Somali navy. This accord, which once again draws attention to the troubled Horn of Africa, follows a similar agreement made in
On May 3, an attack on an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) left 18 civilians dead and more than 30 others injured. The camps were near Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. According to witnesses quoted by Le Monde, government forces
In this episode of Orion Talks, Marta Furlan is joined by Dr Joseph Siegle. Dr Siegle sheds light on the relations between Ethiopia and Somalia over the past few months, following a surprise MoU between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland whereby the latter would lease coastal land to
Since the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan broke out on April 15th, 2023, the war has taken the lives of 13,000 people and forced over 9 million people into internal displacement.
As the Islamic State’s (IS) massacre in Moscow revealed, the group can launch unprecedented violence virtually anywhere in the world at a moment when an attack is little expected. Yet, overshadowed by the Moscow attack and other geopolitical events has been the ongoing IS offensive in Mozambique. Although analysts, media,
Even though political and economic sanctions following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine have led to a recent decline in the Russian arms trade, in recent years the African market continues to thrive. Arms sales and military cooperation with many African countries remain Moscow’s strategic priorities. For instance, Russia has forged
The year 2024 began with a political shakeup in the Horn of Africa when on January 1, Ethiopia and Somaliland revealed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Somaliland, previously British Somalia, is formally part of Somalia, from which it unilaterally seceded after the collapse of the Siad Barre
After two coups in both Burkina Faso and Mali in the past three years and another coup in Guinea in 2021, Niger became the latest West African country to succumb to a coup in July. Like the other coups, the one in Niger was relatively bloodless and involved military generals
The recent decision by the UN Security Council to extend the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) for another six months runs the risk of being a band-aid fix for a deeply festering wound. The problems and weaknesses of Somalia’s security structures are too deep and difficult to address
In the summer of 2023, it looked for a moment that West Africa was at risk of a regional inter-state war of the sorts it had not seen since the 1990s. After a group of military officers overthrew the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, in late July, the
