general
Two More Foreigners Abducted in Somalia?
In August, two foreign freelance reporters were abducted by gunmen in Mogadishu. The kidnappings of Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout from the Shamo Hotel marked an up-tick in violence against foreigners, and especially reporters, in a country that was already one of the most dangerous in the world for visitors. Of course, it’s no cake-walk […]
US Army uses wikis to update field manuals
The Small Wars Journal informs us that the US Army is converting the contents of their field manuals into wiki format allowing soldiers to update military doctrine. (It’s wikipedia for the Army.) Lt Gen William Caldwell, a leader in the use of social media in the US military, writes: "By converting manuals into wikis, the […]
Death-Threat E-mail from an Islamic Extremist
by DAVID AXE Ever wondered what an Islamic extremist’s death threat to an "infidel" might look like? Now you can know. Two weeks ago, Somali journalist Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed "Tajir," pictured, survived an assassination attempt, by extremists, that killed his colleague Moqtar Hirabe. Readers donated funds to help Hashi escape to another country. […]
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
by DAVID AXE Two weeks ago, unidentified gunmen targeted Somali radio reporter Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed "Tajir," as he was walking in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market with Moqtar Hirabe, his director. Hirabe died, on the spot; Hashi’s friends rushed him to Medina Hospital, pictured, with wounds to his arm and stomach. The attack was the […]
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
On Sunday gunmen shot and killed Muktar Hirabe, director of Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, making him the fifth Somali reporter to die this year, in a country where being a journalist is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. With Hirabe was Ahmed Omar Hashi (at right in the photo), a Shabelle senior producer […]
On Bruce Riedel
By now Bruce Riedel is pretty well-known, so I’ll spare you the CV: intimately involved in US foreign affairs in this general area (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Central Asia etc) he helped run one of the reviews of Afghan policy that Obama requested at the beginning of the year. Nowadays he’s still quite active; writing, advising […]
Kindle in Kandahar
As you should be able to make out from the photo, Kindle has come to Kandahar. I imagine there are are fair few being used by foreign military forces members at the PRT inside town and on KAF, the big military base miles outside town, but that doesn’t temper my excitement. Since I last wrote, […]
Africa Handshake, Part Ten: Smart Power’s Long History
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Nine: Skeptics
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Eight: Size Matters
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Seven: Small Craft, Big Responsibility
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Six: The Floating Schoolhouse
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Five: Sao Who?
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Four: Oh Buoy
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Three: Save the Fish, to Fight Pirates
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part Two: Human Trafficking
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Africa Handshake, Part One: This Is Libreville
With two expensive land wars draining the treasury, the Pentagon wants to prevent future conflicts without spending a lot of money. Two years ago the Navy launched its first, roughly annual Africa Partnership Station, sending ships on solo cruises up the West African coast to deliver training and humanitarian aid. The idea: to win new […]
Five Pirated Crews that Didn’t Fare as Well as the Americans
Yesterday the American crew of the container ship Maersk Alabama successfully fought back against Somali pirates attempting to seize the vessel. The ship’s captain was kidnapped during the fighting and now the FBI is helping negotiate his release. For Esquire.com, I surveyed five pirated crews who didn’t fare nearly so well, including: Ekawat Nava 5, […]
U.S. General: Darfur No-Fly Zone Not “Developed”
Let’s be perfectly clear about this: deploying Western forces to establish a no-fly zone over Darfur is a bad idea, and would only further entangle foreign powers in a war in which they have no clear interest. Not to mention, the logistics and rules-of-engagement would be nightmares. Fortunately, the U.S. Air Force doesn’t seem terribly […]
Piracy War Escalates: Korean Sailor Shot
A Korean crewman aboard a ship sailing on the Indian Ocean was shot in the head by Somali pirates but survived, the AP reports. Despite the surge in East African piracy in the past 18 months, only two people have died as a result of pirates’ actions, by my count. One was the Russian […]
Gabon: Poverty amid Plenty
Due to the global recession, the six-nation Central African Economic and Monetary Community — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon — is anticipating economic expansion of just 2.8 percent in 2009, versus 4.4 percent last year. That’s not bad, considering Germany could contract by as much as 7 percent, […]
Book Preview: Fifth-Generation War in Africa
Daniel Abbott over at tdaxp is editing a new book on fifth-generation warfare, to be published by Nimble Books. I’m writing a chapter addressing Somalia, piracy (pictured), human security and 5GW in Africa. Here’s a brief sample: The “fourth generation” of war entailed irregular combatants fighting for an ideological cause, seeking to remake society […]
Somali-American Jihadist has “Change of Heart”
Last week Osama bin Laden exhorted Somalis to rise up in jihad against new president Shariff Sheikh Ahmed, a call that even Somali insurgent leaders rejected. Earlier, as many as two dozen Somalis living in the U.S. sneaked into Somalia to join Islamic fighters combating the U.S.-, U.N.- and A.U.-backed government. One recruit (pictured) […]
U.S. Army’s “Sim Refugee”
U.N. officials are scrambling to prepare for the prospect of tens of thousands of refugees pouring into eastern Chad from Darfur to escape escalating tensions in Sudan. An mass movement of displaced peoples will pose major challenges to the European Union peacekeeping force in Chad and Chadian government troops, considering that combatants in the Darfur […]
Pirate Attacks Decline … but for How Long?
After a year of escalating piracy off the Somali coast, during which pirates seized more than 100 large vessels, in early 2009 the rate of attacks decreased markedly. On Feb. 22, pirates captured a Greek-owned vessel carrying coal. Despite this, the first two months of the new year represented a “lull” in piracy, according to […]
Counterinsurgency and new media
The Small Wars Journal has put together a collection of thoughts on the impact of new media on the way the US military has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Well worth bookmarking, reading, and re-reading. I was going to pick out a ‘best of’, but I was struggling. It’s all very interesting. It includes thoughts […]
Digital War Reporting
Just flagging up a book to watch out for later this year. Digital War Reporting is being written by Stuart Allan and Donald Matheson, two authors I’ve already cited on numerous occasions in my PhD. In the book they explore ‘how new technologies open up innovative ways for journalists to convey the horrors of warfare […]
Somali Was First American Suicide Bomber
In October, a suicide bomber killed 30 people in northern Somalia, a region once considered fairly safe compared to rest of the war-torn country. Now it appears the bomber was an American, making him the first suicide jihadist to come from this country. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has more: "It appears that this individual was radicalized […]
Somali Journo Needs Your Help
Increasingly, my reporting career is reader-supported. In the past year, readers of my blogs have ponied up nearly $3,500 to send me to Chad, Kenya and, soon, Nigeria to report on war and humanitarian crises. For that, I’m grateful. I’m equally grateful for my growing audience. My personal blog War Is Boring now attracts more […]
Send Axe to Africa! Again!
In late March, I’ll be heading to Nigeria to embark aboard the USS Nashville amphibious ship during her “soft-power” deployment on the West African coast. Nashville‘s cruise is part of the U.S. Navy’s Africa Partnership Station, which in turn is one of three ongoing “Global Fleet Stations,” the other two targeting Latin America (pictured) and […]
