← The Horn
Somalia’s End-of-year Cliffhanger artwork

Somalia’s End-of-year Cliffhanger

The Horn
S8 E132:20
Play episode

Show notes

This week on The Horn, Alan talks with Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based think tank Balqiis, about the possible end of UNSOS, the UN logistics operation supporting African Union troops and Somali government forces fighting Al-Shabaab and what may come next. In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based think tank Balqiis about the U.S. decision to oppose renewed United Nations logistical support for the 19-year-old African Union military mission in Somalia. Samira explains why UN logistical support has been critical to the AU mission as well as to Somali government forces fighting Al-Shabaab, and why its loss could leave some areas outside Mogadishu increasingly vulnerable. They also discuss what could happen if no solution or stopgap measure is found, and the 12,000-strong African Union mission ceases to function by the end of the year. They discuss how such a scenario could shift the balance of power on the battlefield between the federal government and Al-Shabaab. They also assess whether Mogadishu’s pursuit of bilateral security partnerships could fill the void left by a weakened or defunct AU mission. This episode is produced in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from this show

More
  1. Ethiopia and Eritrea, On the Cusp of War

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Michael Woldemariam, associate professor at the University of Maryland, to discuss the conflict in northern Ethiopia and whether it c…

    S8 E439:35
  2. Bonus Episode | How Close Are Ethiopia and Eritrea to All-out War?

    Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on the rising risk of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. This week on Hold…

    39:28
  3. Inside Sudan’s War

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’s Africa correspondent and winner of the RTS Network Television Journalist of the Year award 2026, to discus…

    S8 E358:14
  4. Bonus Episode | Back to War in Ethiopia?

    Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on Ethiopia from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode, Richard Atwood speaks with Crisis Group’s A…

    37:35
  5. Bonus Episode | Two Shores, One Sea: The Horn of Africa and West Asia in a Contested Red Sea

    Today we're sharing a bonus episode from the WASSAP podcast, where Alan joins hosts Désirée Custers and Hubert Kinkoh to explore the growing interconnectedness of the Horn of Afric…

    43:00
  6. The Houthis, the Saudis and the New Red Sea Politics

    In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Crisis Group’s Arabian Peninsula director Yasmine Farouk and senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi to explore why Yemen’s truce is unravell…

    S8 E247:11
Now Playing