Communities struggle with the cultural and financial challenges of mental illness, and in under-resourced private clinics, patients are routinely chained Amina usually takes her brother to the clinic by force. He doesn’t like going. “I feel very bad when I take him there. I have to do it but I cry at the same time,” […]
A survivor of Thursday’s attack on a beach restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu has described how he and his friends went back to save a 10-year-old boy caught up in the violence. When the shooting started, Mohamed Dhaaley ran for his life, but stopped after hearing a voice cry: “Please, don’t leave me,” he […]
Lul Hersi sat in her idling minivan at a stoplight in downtown St. Cloud. Her window was rolled down to invite in the evening summer breeze, her phone tucked in her hijab, against her ear, like a makeshift Bluetooth receiver. “Hey, you!” a woman’s voice suddenly brayed from the next car. “Hey, you! I’m talking […]
Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, a passionate Somali journalist, was sentenced in February 2013 to one year in prison. His crime? Interviewing a woman alleging rape by government security forces. The woman was also convicted of “tarnishing” state institutions. Both were eventually acquitted, but Abdiaziz fled into exile. Expand Somali journalists protest as they demand for the […]
State Sen. Jeff Hayden, who represents a large swath of south Minneapolis in the Legislature, is facing a challenge from a fellow DFLer. Mohamoud Hassan filed as a candidate on Tuesday. In a phone interview, Hassan said he has heard complaints that Hayden is not accessible to his constituents. “I don’t see a connection with […]
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Minnesota man accused of starting a fire that heavily damaged a Somali restaurant in Grand Forks made his first appearance Tuesday on a federal complaint. Matthew Gust, 25, of East Grand Forks, Minn., is facing two federal charges — use of a destructive device during a crime of violence and […]
Mystery still surrounds the deadly attack by Islamist militants on an African Union (AU) base in Somalia last Friday. Residents of the south-western el-Ade town were the first to break the news, saying al-Shabab fighters arrived at dawn. The raid began with an explosion by a suicide car bomber at the gates of the base […]
The EU on Thursday announced it would provide €77 million ($83.9 million) in humanitarian aid for the Horn of Africa region in 2016. The aid is to address the most urgent needs of displaced populations, mostly in Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan. The announcement was made by EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management […]
Though I drive thousands of miles a year around Los Angeles, I prefer being a passenger. The driver deals with pesky details like road signs and brake lights, while the person next to them can focus on important stuff like spotting previously unnoticed restaurants. Since I can’t always convince my driver to stop and investigate, […]
IN OCTOBER 2013 the Seaman Guard Ohio, a Sierra Leone-flagged ship, was intercepted just under 11 nautical miles off the coast of India by the local coastguard. The grey-hulled vessel looked like a naval ship—bristling with antennae and radar—but was chartered by AdvanFort, a private security firm based in Washington, DC. It had 35 crew […]