Search (Somalia)

This OSAC report format provides a brief update on recent events in Sub-Saharan Africa

OSAC delivered a presentation focused on ongoing concerns in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Somalia at the December 2021 Nairobi Country Chapter meeting on East African regional security trends and their impacts on U.S. organizat...

Over a week after Somali President Farmaajo’s political mandate expired, there is still no set date to elect his successor. Federal and regional leaders continue to squabble over the electoral impasse, threatening Somali...

Tensions between Kenya and Somalia have increased visibly in recent weeks after the President of Somaliland conducted a state visit to Nairobi. Somalia has severed diplomatic ties with Kenya, and it is not yet clear what...

Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab continues to threaten the nation of Somalia as its principal security challenge. Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the group has carried out numerous high-profile, sophisticated a...

The CDC has issued a blanket Level 2 Travel Health Notice for Polio in parts of Africa and Asia. The notice urges enhanced safety precautions for travelers to 22 countries whose limited health systems, poor sanitation pr...

Al-Shabaab continues to pose the most significant threat to stability in Somalia and the region. Despite an escalation in U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Shabaab militants in recent years, the increased tempo reportedly has...

In 2018, the U.S. Department of State introduced the Travel Advisory system. Fifteen months after the system went into effect, the Department has unveiled its first significant modification: the addition of a new, separa...

On Saturday, October 14, two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) exploded in downtown Mogadishu, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding hundreds more. Despite the attacks having, thus far, gone unclai...

After five years without a reported major incident of piracy off the coast of Somalia, a UAE-owned, Comoros-flagged oil tanker heading from Djibouti to Mogadishu was hijacked by pirates 18 kilometers off the country’s no...

More than a dozen sub-Saharan countries are now dealing with violent Islamist extremism; according to open-source reporting as of July, since the beginning of 2015, 3,445 people have been killed in 187 terror attacks att...

On February 21, the Somalia-based Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab released a documentary-style video through its Twitter account titled The Westgate Siege: Retributive Justice. In it, the group glorified its September...

On June 15, militants in Kenya attacked the coastal town of Mpeketoni in Lamu County, killing an estimated 48 men, most of whom were watching a World Cup match at local bars and hotels. One day later, two nearby towns we...

Introduction <BR><BR>September’s terror attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, propelled the Somalia-based Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab into the international spotlight. Westgate is the deadliest t...

Al-Hijra is a violent Kenyan Islamic extremist group with ties to al-Shaba’ab that has emerged on the security landscape of East Africa. Open-source news reports link the group to the September Westgate Shopping Mall att...

Due to the perceived wealth and influence of U.S. private-sector employees, kidnapping continues to pose a significant threat to OSAC constituents operating overseas. In addition to kidnap for ransom by criminal organiza...

This report has been updated to include an attached tactical PDF file, which includes site layout, pictures of the attackers, and other pertinent graphical information. On Saturday, September 21 between 10 and 15 gunmen...

Al-Shabaab, the primary terrorist threat to the Horn of Africa for the past six years, faces a radical decline for the first time due to a confluence of factors.

Please find the latest edition of the OSAC Regional Analysis Bulletin (RAB). This week’s bulletin contains articles highlighting ongoing instability in Libya, al-Shabaab tactical setbacks in Somalia, and recent ethno-sec...

The Somalia-based al-Shabaab militant group has made repeated threats to launch attacks in Kenya in retaliation for Kenya’s ongoing military operations in Somalia, which began in October 2011. In addition, al-Shabaab has...