somalia

As cyber-currency magnates promote bitcoins festooned with hypnotic barcodes, spare a thought for the officially non-existent nation of Somaliland. Its 3.8 million inhabitants insisted that something more inspirational adorn their country’s equally tenuous global tender and bankroll its quest for global recognition. So they went with goats, sheep and the often petulant dromedary camel.

In recent years, Somalia’s al-Shabab militia has banned smoking, playing soccer, watching movies, wearing bras, anything it deemed Western. Now, the al-Qaeda-linked group has targeted something else common in most of the rest of the world: the Internet.

Besides goodwill, another major motivation behind humanitarian assistance is exerting influence. Influence can emerge through cultural, economic, or political means. Political means seeking to resolve a conflict through humanitarian assistance and institutions practicing humanitarian efforts can be identified as ‘humanitarian diplomacy’.

Besides goodwill, another major motivation behind humanitarian assistance is exerting influence. Influence can emerge through cultural, economic, or political means. Political means seeking to resolve a conflict through humanitarian assistance and institutions practicing humanitarian efforts can be identified as ‘humanitarian diplomacy’.

Aid agencies paid Somalia's al-Shabab militants for access to areas under their control in the 2011 famine, according to a joint report by two think tanks. In many cases al-Shabab insisted on distributing the aid and kept much of it for itself, the report says. Some of the groups are still paying al-Shabab to operate in the large parts of Somalia it still holds, it adds.

Somali security forces have raided and closed Radio Shabelle, a popular independent broadcasting station located in Mogadishu. Law enforcement officers entered the building on Saturday. Station owner and director Abdimalik Yusuf Mohamud says some of the 37 staff members were beaten by police before they were arrested and detained. Police also confiscated computers and other equipment.

Since Somalia's 1991 civil war and the political instability it wrought, capital city Mogadishu has struggled to rebuild. But recently, signs of better times have begun to emerge. With Al-Shabab militants no longer in control, a new, technocratic government has helped plant signs of stability while attracting a substantial new wave of investment from longtime ally Turkey and other members of the Somali diaspora.

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