Airport workers suspend strike for one week https://citizen.digital/news/airport-w

Al-Shabaab turns 18: Why has the #Somalia terror group refused to die?

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted on 15 August 2024 to extend the mandate of the 12,626 men and women of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis). The African mission has been stationed in Somalia for the past 17 years to support the government’s battle against the homegrown terrorist group al-Shabaab. Despite recent government successes, fighting continues in Somalia.

Why has al-Shabaab proved such a hard nut to crack?

It’s 18 years since the militant group Harakat al-Shabaab, as al-Shabaab refers to itself, rose out of the disintegrating Somali state. It emerged in 2006 from an existing radical network that lorded it over the capital Mogadishu through sharia courts. Since then it has suffered both battlefield defeats and territorial losses. Yet it remains as strong as ever.

In 2012 it joined the al-Qaeda global terrorist network. Al-Shabaab’s strength is estimated at between 7,000 and 12,000 soldiers, making it numerically the strongest organisation under the al-Qaeda umbrella.

I am a researcher and author who studies the war economy, security, political Islam and religion and development. My area of focus includes the Horn of Africa. My book, Horn, Sahel and Rift, the Faultlines of #African #Jihad, highlights factors that have enabled African jihadists to survive and flourish for decades. Some of these factors apply in the case of al-Shabaab.

#Zimbabwe to #deport Ugandan tourist found with sex toy. A Ugandan tourist, who spent 24 days in a Zimbabwean jail for possessing a sex toy is now awaiting deportation after he was acquitted of the charges.

Tom Ssekamwa, 24, was arrested outside a lodge in Masvingo, a city that is 292km south of the capital Harare, alongside Czech tourist Lucas Slavik on August 2.

The two were detained at the height of a government crackdown on dissent ahead of a regional summit that saw over 200 opposition and civil society activists being held for allegedly plotting to disrupt the event.

Mr Ssekamwa was acquitted this week by magistrate Isaac Chikura of the charge of criminal nuisance.

He was also cleared of charges of violating the Censorship Act for being found with a rubber male organ in his bag.

#Sudan war: Who is backing the two rivals?

#Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Chief of Defence Staff Gen Mubarakh Muganga on Monday, August 26 opened a training of 23 military officers from the Eastern Africa Standby Force member countries, at the #Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District.

#Museveni tightens grip on parliament and Buganda monarchy .The #Ugandan president is fine-tuning his strategy before running for a seventh term in the 2026 presidential election, focusing on legislative power and the opposition stronghold of the kingdom of Buganda.

#Haiti gangs back to guerrilla tactics as #Kenyan #police guard installations.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/haitian-gangs-back-as-kenyans-guard-installations-4707664

#GHANA : Yagbonwura to Make Historic Visit to Nayiri for Peace Talks #News #historicvisit #Make #Nayiri #peacetalks

#BurkinaFaso : La #DGESE attaque-t-elle les pages virtuelles de certains médias pour déstabiliser l’#AES ? Le Burkina Faso fait face à une nouvelle menace qui serait orchestrée par la France par le biais de la #DGESE, déterminée...lire la suite