Somalia
The Westgate Attack Shows How Desperate al-Shabaab Have Become
With the militant group panicking and in disarray, they’re ready to lash out regardless of the consequences. Not content with stoning adulterous women, recruiting child soldiers, and taking young girls as "wives," al-Shabaab wants to set up an Islamic...
Inside Somaliland’s Pirate Rehab
If you've ever wondered what happened to all those pirates who were terrorizing boats—including Tom Hanks'—off the coast of Somalia a while back, many of them got scooped up and sent to a prison in Somaliland with a focus on rehabilitation.
Somali Jihadists' Growing Pains Are a Pain for Everyone
Al-Shabaab's Expansion Outside of Somalia Is Bad News
My Time with One of Somaliland’s Khat Kingpins
Khat is a longstanding part of Somali culture, and people familiar with the plant in Yemen and Ethiopia jump to defend it as a recreational social lubricant. But it’s not so benign in Somaliland anymore. Ethiopian growers flood the market, realizing...
Al Qaeda's Somalia Cell Is Fractured and Dangerous
Al-Shabaab is the terrorist group that’s been periodically ravaging and ruling parts of Somalia for the past six years and, in 2012, officially became a subsidiary of al Qaeda. I had a sit-down with one of its alleged former soldiers.
Traveling to Mexico for a Tooth Implant and Tacos
Dental tourism is one of the most cheapskate aspects of neocolonialism. Every year, thousands of cheap Americans travel to Mexico to buy new teeth. I am one such cheap person.
This Man Was Thrown in a Somali Jail for Interviewing a Rape Victim
Everyone’s talking about Somalia’s future. They’re talking up foreign business investment, they’re talking up the new government, and they’re talking up the Islamist militia al-Shabaab. Something that hasn't come up quite so much, however, is the...
Somaliland Is a Real Country, According to Somaliland
At the back corner of the top floor of a little office building in London’s East End, around the corner from the Tesco down Mile End Road from the Whitechapel subway stop, sits the one-room Somaliland Mission in the UK. Yes, Somaliland, not Somalia.
Rapping for Peace in Somalia
I tagged along on the last leg of the Somali Sunrise Tour for Peace, a concert series that has taken Waayaha Cusub around the US and Kenya to perform for Somali refugees. They are Somalia's most popular band and they aim to help heal the wounds opened...
Can Britain Handle the Rapes, Killings, and Clans in Somalia?
There's a big meeting in London tomorrow to talk about all of Somalia's problems. Officials from the UN, the African Union, the IMF, and 50 countries will be there to impart their wisdom/spout platitudes in a bid to help Somalia rebuild itself after...
'Fishing Without Nets' Is Hijacking the Big Screen
In the year or so since 'Fishing Without Nets' was released, we've yapped about it quite a bit. But short films about Somali pirates starring Somali actors don't come around too often, and when they do, they deserve lots and lots of attention. So that...
'Fishing Without Nets' Is Fishing for Another Award
If you're at all interested in high-seas plundering, chances are you've seen 'Fishing Without Nets.' It won the 2012 Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at Sundance, and now it's being expanded into a full-length film and competing for $60,000 worth of...