Author Archives: praisedone

I went on a tour of Bakara Market in Mogadishu recently with a former Shabab member who I knew since his early teens. Let us call him Ali. I last visited the market in mid-2011 when it was still held … Continue reading →

Today I came across an article claiming that the Shabab is resorting to petty crimes, robbing people, carjacking, and randomly shooting at travelers in Bay/Bakol regions, the group’s support base. The truth is none of these stories seem plausible for … Continue reading →

On Sunday, the Ethiopians withdrew from El Buur in Galgaduud, central Somalia, after holding it for only a little more than two months. This was the Shabab’s main base in central Somalia, and it was from there that the Shabab … Continue reading →

Today AMISOM forces with the help of TFG forces (and their allied clannish militias) managed to capture the strategic town of Afgoi, which lies around 25 kilometres to the northwest of Mogadishu. After fighting the allied forces for a couple … Continue reading →

Over the years weird Shabab stories have been surfacing online, some of them so weird that I thought people would laugh at them and move on. But some have stood the test of time and are still passed out as … Continue reading →

It emerged late last year that the FBI had anti-Muslim training materials that claimed, among other things, that the more devout a Muslim is, the more violent he is likely to be. Following a lot of criticism, the FBI has … Continue reading →

Sheikh Aḥmed ʾAbdisamad of the Iʾtisam Islamist movement this week blamed clans that he said were “Loma Ooyaan” (“No one Cries for them”, in English) for supporting the Shabab in a bid to take revenge on the bigger clans (such … Continue reading →

An interesting thing happened to me and a friend a few days ago. I had not seen him for some time, so we met at midday at a coffee shop in a popular Mogadishu market. We were talking about a … Continue reading →

I came back to Mogadishu on the 9th of this month. I was delayed a bit by the UN Secretary General’s arrival. Apparently, the security officials at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport decided having passengers land around the time as … Continue reading →

The Somali Prime minister today met the Kenyan Prime Minister in Nairobi and changed the Somali government’s position regarding the Kenyan incursion into Somalia for the third time, saying that the Somali government supports the activities of the Kenyan forces … Continue reading →