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We present to you, the rare pointy long boi Somali sharp-snouted worm lizard. Image courtesy of Mark Spicer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Being elusive might seem exclusively the realm of spies and space stuff, but animals are pretty good at it too, and one that takes the trait to heart is the Somali sharp-snouted worm lizard. Having not been officially seen in over 90 years, the odd-looking creature has now made a reappearance. The Somali sharp-snouted worm lizard (Ancylocranium somalicum) was first reported back in 1931, when scientists discovered a subspecies of the reptile in what’s now the unrecognized state of Somaliland. It...

The deputy minister of foreign affairs of Somaliland called Omar's recent comments "lacking in common decency." Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a progressive member of the so-called “Squad” and a Mogadishu native, is facing calls for her resignation after, critics say, she promised to do all she could to prevent a Somaliland deal with Ethiopia over access to the sea. “The language she employed was regrettably unbecoming of both the office she holds and the constituents she represents,” wrote Rhoda Elmi, deputy foreign affairs minister of Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but which most most countries, including...

Why Ethiopia is Preparing to Invade Eritrea Next | 49:54 | RealLifeLore | 7.22M subscribers | 1,321,742 views | November 28, 2023

The president of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has expressed his support for Somalia in a dispute over an offer by the breakaway northern region of Somaliland to give land-locked Ethiopia access to its coast in exchange for recognition of its independence.In his strongest statement yet on the issue at a press conference in Cairo alongside the president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Sisi said: “My message to Ethiopia is that trying to seize a piece of land to control it is something no one will agree to.”He added that his country would be ready to provide “support in case of...

Call it a new 'Great Game' or war for hearts and minds, or just influence peddling, but Iran and Turkey are now engaged in greater efforts to expand their role in Africa. This comes as Russia and China are also extending networks on the continent. It is important to understand that this is in the context of the US generally reducing its global role and comes around 60 years after European colonialism was rolled back. The increasing footprint of Iran and Turkey have caused concern for other states that view their role as belligerent. That means that Gulf media is...

In the wake of the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, there are rumors that several other states could be next to sign an agreement with Israel. While there are hurdles to normalizing relations with some states in the Middle East, there are others who view the UAE decision as a trial balloon and will react positively based on how the next weeks and months play out between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. What follows is a list of some countries that reports suggest may be in line to normalize relations. Bahrain Bahrain was long thought to...

Last week we went to Somalia as American tourists. We stayed only a night, but that was plenty of time to wander unescorted through the local market, explore town in a battered Toyota station wagon, and even head out into the desert to admire some ancient cave paintings. It might seem an odd choice of vacation spot, given that Somalia, so long synonymous with "failed state," appears to be growing ever more dangerous. The insurgency against the American-backed Ethiopian occupation persists, and just last week it was reported that a particularly radical group has launched a campaign to murder relief...

Spiralling knife, drugs, and gang crime in London has been leading many concerned Somali parents to send their teenage offspring, who grew up in Britain, away to Africa for their own safety. With 50 to 70 per cent of members of the Somali community in Islington, north London, “directly affected” by knife violence and ‘county lines’ drugs crime, mothers who arrived from the troubled African country during the 1990s told the Observer they felt they had “no choice” but to send their children away from an increasingly dangerous UK. Sadia Ali, the treasurer of the Islington Somalia Forum and a...

An explosion in southern Lebanon last week destroyed what is believed to have been a Hezbollah weapons depot. This latest in a series of mysterious “accidents” in Hezbollah-controlled precincts proved, as one Israeli official wryly remarked, that those who “sleep with rockets and amass large stockpiles of weapons are in a very unsafe place.” With the Party of God’s overland supply route through Syria choked off by the 22-month-long uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Israel virtually in total control of the maritime route, Hezbollah’s stockpile is being systematically degraded.Yet the arsenal of Iran’s other regional proxy force, Hamas,...

The struggling nation of Somaliland is betting these beasts of burden will be on the menu far and wide.From early in the morning until midday, the streets of southern Hargeisa, Somaliland periodically shut down as hundreds of camels trundle along the narrow city streets. Taxi drivers give way, milling on the side of the road, wiping their cars clean of the dust and mud kicked up by the procession. Ultimately, the beasts file through the gates of the Hargeisa Camel Market. No one really runs the market. It’s just one of dozens of sites across the country where nomads, locals,...

Egypt’s Morsi Government has initiated a return to covert war against Ethiopia, which controls the source of the Blue Nile, Egypt’s and Sudan’s principal source of water. The result will almost certainly lead to an increased level of insecurity in the strategic Red Sea/Suez sea lane and in the upper Nile riparian states, such as South Sudan, with some impact on global energy markets. Certainly it promises to see greater instability in the Horn of Africa at a time when Western media portrayals hint at a return to stability in, for example, Somalia. Significant, mounting public unrest in Egypt during...

Units of the National Army assume control of Las qorayPuntland militias are no longer terrorising residents of eastern sanaag. Residents of Las Qoray town in the East of Sanaag region after the national army took full control of following the eviction of Puntland militias from the area. According to the Las Qoray mayor Mohamed Hayan Arshe area residents are now moving freely and without fear since the army assumed full control once the terrorist militias funded by Puntland fled with their tails coiled in shame and fright. Mayor Arshe informs that his local council which is earnestly engaged in tax...

The break-away territory of Somaliland sees drilling for oil as possible by 2014 as three companies start exploration activities, the country’s mining and energy minister said on Tuesday. Hussein Abdi Dualeh told Reuters the three companies are Ophir Energy Plc, Australia-based Jacka Resources and Genel Energy, which is headed by former BP chief executive Tony Hayward. Somaliand is not recognized internationally and declared independence from Somalia in 1991. “Last year we were seen as a frontier because nothing was happening. But now the biggest exploration activities in 21 years are about to start,” Dualeh told Reuters on the sidelines of...

Bundles of Somaliland's own currency bills are laid out by a money-changer on a street in Hargeisa, capital of the unrecognized breakaway republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia. Investors are beginning to move into the untapped market in Somaliland, a stable island in a turbulent region.Somalia is synonymous with failed states, pirates and Islamist militants. But in the nation's northwest lies a peaceful, stable territory with an elected government known as Somaliland. The enclave broke away from the fractious Horn of Africa nation in 1991 and has been going it alone ever since. To the disappointment of its residents, Somaliland...

The Somaliland Press claims that Kenya is preparing to recognize Somaliland's independence, which would create another new country in the horn of Africa. "Kenyan Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka said during an event held in Nairobi to commemorate Somaliland's 20th anniversary of Independence that his country will support Somaliland as an independent state" reported Somaliland Press and Iran's Press TV. Kenyans who have called for their government to recognize Hargeisa argue that Somaliland would help stabilize the region and stop Somalia's expansionism dreams into Kenya and into Ethiopia's eastern regions with Somali ethnic populations. Since Somaliland's ally Ethiopia...

Pirates of yesteryear have been romanticized in literature through books like "Treasure Island" and in films like "Pirates of the Caribbean". But the modern day piracy off the coast of Somalia is no swashbuckling fun and adventure. It is an expensive and dangerous problem that is escalating at an alarming rate. Piracy cost the international economy up to $8.3 billion last year and "has emerged as a market it its own right," states a new report by political and economic intelligence consulting firm Geopolicity. Already in the first quarter of 2011, Somali pirates have attacked more than 117 ships, killed...

There is a general agreement among academics, journalists and policy makers that piracy cannot be defeated at sea. It has to be fought on land. Since the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is too weak to do so, many point to regional states as potential partners of the international community. Especially Puntland seems to be a good candidate, given that many pirates operate from its territory. However, some experts claim that the Puntland authorities are in fact involved in piracy... Puntland was established in 1998 as an autonomous state in Somalia. Local politicians, civil society and clan leaders had decided not...

Fears of all-out war in erstwhile peaceful northern Somalia grew dramatically Sunday after Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole warned Somaliland to "stop the massacre of civilians," Radio Garowe reports. During a Sunday interview, President Farole told the BBC Somali Service that Puntland's government "will not remain on the sidelines" if Somaliland continues the violence. "We [Puntland] wish to live in this region peacefully. We wish that the two stable states of Somalia [Puntland and Somaliland] co-exist in peace and we hoped that a new administration in Somaliland would withdraw its forces from Las Anod," President Farole said, adding: "But if...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

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