COMMENT René Brosius 10 June 2022 In the evening of 8 February 2017, it was clear: Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed also known as “Farmaajo” is Somalia’s 9th president. People in Mogadishu were excited, the streets were filled with joyous pedestrians that were celebrating the feeling of hope which Farmaajo represented. There was no feeling of fear,…
Author: René Brosius
ANALYSIS 29 April 2022 René Brosius Somali politics is experiencing exciting times. However, they could be the birth pangs of a positive turn of times: With the controversial and long-delayed election of the two parliamentary chambers (just a few seats missing) nearly complete, speakers of the two chambers were elected on April 26-27, 2022, according…
ANALYSIS 15 April 2022 René Brosius Somalia’s complicated election process is ending – and remains complicated. After many delays, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble recently announced his intention to complete the electoral process by April 14, 2022. After a one-and-a-half-year delay, this would create the basis for electing the speakers of both chambers as well…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 26 November 2021 Somalia is considered the prototype of a legally pluralistic environment. Nevertheless, the proper handling of legal diversity has not yet succeeded. While traditional finding of law remained essentially untouched during the colonial period, there have been various attempts to incorporate the Xeer and religious law into a state legal…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 12 November 2021 The latest news from Somalia could not be contradictory. On the one hand, the first democratic “one person, one vote” elections since 1969 took place in Puntland, the semi-autonomous state in north-eastern Somalia, on 25 October 2021; on the other hand, there was bloody fighting in central Somalia. Admittedly,…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 17 September 2021 In April 2021, after Somalia was on the brink of civil war, it seemed for a long time that the solution would be found in a tough (s)election process. The May 27, 2021 agreement and Prime Minister Roble’s timetable presented at the end of June stipulated that this process…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 23 July 2021 If you ask older Somalis about the time shortly after the country’s independence, they often advise you very politely: Firstly, that Somalia was never really colonised. Secondly, that it was one of the most peaceful periods in Somalia’s recent history. Yes, sometimes you hear that Somalia was the Switzerland…
ANALYSIS René Brosius 25 June 2021 In the inner-Somali discussion, the term “4.5 system” comes up again and again, and for outsiders it is not easily recognisable what concept lies behind this terminology Therefore, I want to offer a brief explanation to keep up with the ongoing developments. The 4.5-system is a mechanism for sharing…
COMMENT René Brosius 28 April 2021 The conflict over elections in Somalia[1] , which has been ongoing since last summer, has reached the next stage of escalation. Internationally mediated talks between the government, whose term has constitutionally expired[2] and the National Salvation Council (NSC), consisting of the presidential candidates, the prime ministers of Jubbaland and…
COMMENT René Brosius 09 April 2021 Somalia and Kenya do not have a tension-free relationship. Many reasons for this lie in the conflict-ridden history. The border between the two countries is a disputed colonial legacy. Large ethnic Somali minorities still live on Kenya’s territory, especially in the so-called North Eastern Province. The majority of the…