Stories
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The Scars of Conflict: Historical and Contemporary Mass Violences in Somaliland’s Borderlands
The political landscape of the Horn of Africa remains profoundly shaped by the memories of its civil conflicts. Among the most sensitive and polarizing chapters in the modern history of the region are the mass casualty events in Borama in 1991 and Las Anod in 2023. While separating these events by over three decades reveals…
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100 Days of Silence: The Rwandan Genocide and the World That Looked Away
In just 100 days in 1994, approximately 800,000 people were murdered in Rwanda while much of the world stood by. Colonial favoritism had created deep resentment between Hutus and Tutsis, but the genocide was not simply an uncontrollable eruption of ancient hatred. Political leaders organized that resentment, transformed it into a campaign of revenge, and…
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How Targeted Somali Communities Answer Hostile Rhetoric
When political rhetoric targets an entire community, who gets heard? This article examines how money and media can amplify political attacks and how Somali communities can respond through counter-speech, collective organization, civic power, and political representation.
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The Forgotten Slave Trade of East Africa
For centuries, thousands of enslaved Africans were forced from the interior of East Africa to coastal ports such as Zanzibar and Bagamoyo, then transported across the Indian Ocean to Arabia, Persia, India, and beyond. Their story became part of a vast slave-trading system that history too often overlooks.
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The Price of Sovereignty
Political independence gave African nations their flags, but economic independence remained elusive. From Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah to Thomas Sankara and today’s Sahel, discover why challenging foreign control over Africa’s wealth has often carried a heavy price.
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The Countries Fueling Sudan’s War
Foreign powers are turning Sudan’s civil war into a wider struggle for gold, military influence and control of the Red Sea.
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The Human Cost of the British Empire
Behind the celebrated image of the British Empire lies a history of famine, displacement, exploitation, and borders whose consequences are still felt today.