Atrocities Watch Africa Monitor No 5, June 2022 Atrocities Watch Africa (AWA) is a non-partisan, civil society organisation that intends to provide continental leadership in matters pertaining to the prevention of mass atrocities within Africa, our strategies and...
Somalia
The land of the Somali people, much of it arid and inhospitable, has for thousands of years been close to civilization and international trade. To the north, just across the Gulf of Aden, is Saba, the land of the legendary Queen of Sheba and the earliest part of Arabia to prosper. To the west is Ethiopia, where the kingdom of Aksum is established by the 5th century BC.
Situated on the so-called Horn of Africa, jutting out into the India Ocean, Somalia’s harbours are natural ports of call for traders sailing to and from India. So the coastline of the region is much visited by foreigners, in particular Arabs and Persians. But in the interior the Somali are left to their own devices.
Update June 2022
From Atrocities Watch Monitor N° 5, June 2022Read full newsletter here. In May, Somalia saw an increase in violence, particularly in the run up to the 15 May presidential election. According to ACLED, there was about a 25% increase in the number of incidents,...
MONITOR MAY 2022
Atrocities Watch Africa Monitor No 4, May 2022 Atrocities Watch Africa (AWA) is a non-partisan, civil society organisation that intends to provide continental leadership in matters pertaining to the prevention of mass atrocities within Africa, our strategies and...
Update May 2022
From Atrocities Watch Monitor N° 4, May 2022Read full newsletter here. Violence in Somalia increased in April in the run up to the presidential elections in May. According to ACLED, 190 battles occurred in April 2022, more than in any month in 2021 or in the...
Updates April 2022
From Atrocities Watch Monitor No. 3 April 2022. Read full newsletter here The latest in a series of scheduled election dates passed on 31 March without elections. Attacks by Islamist extremists intensified through March, ACLED recorded over 40 acts of remote...
MONITOR APRIL 2022
Atrocities Watch Africa Monitor No 3, April 2022 Atrocities Watch Africa (AWA) is a non-partisan, civil society organisation that intends to provide continental leadership in matters pertaining to the prevention of mass atrocities within Africa, our strategies and...
Monitor March 2022
Atrocities Watch Africa MonitorNo 2, March 2022 Atrocities Watch Africa (AWA) is a non-partisan, civil society organisation that intends to provide continental leadership in matters pertaining to the prevention of mass atrocities within Africa, our strategies and...
Intervening Years
In the intervening years the most dramatic upheaval occurs in British Somaliland, where the uprising led by Mohammed ibn Abdullah Hassan (known to the British at the time as the Mad Mullah) takes two decades to suppress. Member of Interim south west administration...
Colonial competitors: 1839-1897
European interest in Somalia develops after 1839, when the British begin to use Aden, on the south coast of Arabia, as a coaling station for ships on the route to India. The British garrison requires meat. The easiest local source is the Somali coast. France and...