Critical analysis, news and commentaries

September 1, 2026

Garowe, Puntland, Somalia

By Ismail H. Warsame

Mohamed Affey has spent recent weeks recounting his years as a Kenyan diplomat and mediator of the Mbagathi Somali National Reconciliation Conference, 2002-2004, in a series of interviews with Juxa Video. The epis…

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Garowe, Puntland, Somalia

By Ismail H. Warsame

Before Puntland existed as a political concept, the territory it now occupies was a patchwork of self-governing sultanates. The Sultanate of Hobyo (Obbia) and the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia), along with the Nogal region, operated as Italian protectorates under treaties signed in 1889 an…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 30, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame

Garowe, Puntland, Somalia; Toronto, Canada — The Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel MV Lutuf, hijacked by pirates on Aug. 17 off the coast of Puntland’s Nugaal region, is free. On that single fact, Mogadishu and Garowe agree. On almost everythin…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 29, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame
Garowe, Puntland, Somalia; Toronto, Canada

A memo does not normally announce a mission’s decline. But read closely, the African Union’s Aug. 21 directive authorizing the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in…

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August 28, 2026

The Economist
Middle East & Africa | Irro’s gambit
“Somaliland wants to help secure the Red Sea”
Aug 20th 2026 | Nairobi

The Economist’s argument that Somaliland can help secure the Red Sea by trading military access and port facilities for recognition is more aspirational than credible. Somaliland does have stra…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 23, 2026

Garowe, Puntland, Somalia — Local reports say eight men were killed Sunday afternoon in an attack by a Turkish military speedboat at a coastal area known as Gaala’ood, located between Eyl and Garacad in Puntland’s Nugaal region. Neither Puntland authorities no…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 23, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame

Garowe, Puntland, Somalia
There is a particular cruelty in discovery arriving decades after neglect. President Said Abdullahi Deni’s working visit to Mudugh region, now into its second week and still underwa…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 21, 2026

A WDM Editorial

Garowe, Puntland, Somalia; Toronto, Canada
A social media post attributed to Ethiopia’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA), reportedly showing Somaliland separated from or erasing Somalia, has again set off alarm across Somali social media. WDM h…

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She arrived at Newnham College, an all-women’s college, …

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 20, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame
Garowe, Puntland, Somalia; Toronto, Canada
ismailwarsame@gmail.com | @ismailwarsame

Editor’s note: This is a developing story. Casualty figures and territorial control claims below come from Somalia’s Defense Ministry, Reuters, The A…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 19, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame/Garowe/Toronto

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says his visit to Galmudug carried “a clear message of peace & unity” and reaffirmed a commitment to security, state-building, democratic transition and a prosperous Somalia.
Fine words. But in …

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August 18, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame

GALKAYO, Somalia — On Monday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud stood at Abdullahi Issa Stadium in the Galmudugh-administered south of Galkayo and asked residents to protect the peace of a city he could not fully enter. He had traveled by road from Dhusamareb with Galmudugh Presid…

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Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN)

Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 16, 2026

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Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN)

Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 15, 2026

Does Galkayo Peace Depend on Them?

August 15, 2026

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 14, 2026

By Ismail H. Warsame | Toronto

A claim resurfaces periodically in Somali popular history: that an ancient Egyptian pharaoh was “of Somali origin.” It is a compelling story, but it is not what the historical or scientific record shows. The real story is more in…

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August 13, 2026

Early this month, without a released text and without a word from Washington, Puntland announced that it had signed a security agreement with the United States to expand the American military base at Bosaso. President Said Abdullahi Deni signed alongside Major General Claude Tudor of AFRICOM’s Special Ope…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 13, 2026

A WDM Editorial

Sometimes history is recovered from archives. Sometimes it emerges from the mouth of a man who was actually in the room.
Ambassador Hussein Ali Duale — better known as Ambassador Awil — has been both witness and participant in some extraordinary…

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A WDM Editorial

There is an old Mudugh expression fit for moments when yesterday has become too embarrassing to defend: “Let us be reborn again.”

It is not an invitation to erase history. It means forgiving past wrongdoing, burying old quarrels, abandoning failed habits and starting afresh from today.

Mudugh badly needs such a rebirth.

Sudd…

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Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN)

Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 11, 2026

A WDM Editorial

Somalia has apparently discovered a constitutional innovation unknown to political science: institutions can expire and still reproduce themselves.
The Federal Parliament’s four-year mandate ran out on April 14, 2026. The President’s term followe…

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Critical analysis, news and commentaries

August 11, 2026

Federalism, Confederation, and the Risks of Somalia’s Centralizing Drift
By Ismail H. Warsame, MSc, PhD Candidate
Warsame Digital Media (WDM)
Executive Summary
Puntland’s constitutional relationship with Somalia has entered a critical phase.
The debate is no longer…

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