Edna Adan Ismail is used to counselling patients to a healthy mind in the hospital ward. As a midwife and administrator at her own hospital in Somaliland, the self-declared and breakaway state of Somalia, she has seen her fair share of patients distressed by their afflictions. Continue reading “Edna: A Woman of Firsts”
Month: February 2020
Ethiopia’s Naive Peacemaking Could Lead to War
Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy is on a high. In October 2019, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.” The committee also cited Abiy’s work more broadly — helping restore Djibouti-Eritrea ties, mediate a maritime dispute between Kenya and Somalia, and facilitate the peaceful transition in Sudan. Continue reading “Ethiopia’s Naive Peacemaking Could Lead to War”
Locust Outbreak in Eastern Africa
A new generation of voracious desert locusts is about to hatch in eastern Africa, and if not tackled now, will form swarms 20 times larger than the wave that has swept through the region since the beginning of the year, aid workers and experts are warning.Unusually heavy rains late last year favored breeding, triggering the current locust outbreak that spread into eastern Ethiopia, neighboring areas of Somalia, and then poured into Kenya, destroying crops, pasture, and forest cover on an unprecedented scale. Continue reading “Locust Outbreak in Eastern Africa”
Unlocking Somaliland
On the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, sits Somaliland’s Berbera port. It occupies a strategic position in the Horn of Africa and lies on a busy shipping route for traffic to and from the Middle East and eastern Africa. Continue reading “Unlocking Somaliland”
Is Somaliland an Independent Nation?
It is my understanding that Somaliland receives around five hundred tourists a year. We were three. But within a single day, street assaults over tattoos meant we were two. Continue reading “Is Somaliland an Independent Nation?”
Somaliland and Somalia Presidents Meet
In what could spell better times for the horn of Africa nemesis Somalia and Somaliland, the presidents of the two erstwhile United Nations met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for the first time. Continue reading “Somaliland and Somalia Presidents Meet”