Somalia

The US has suspended all assistance to the government of Somalia, alleging that officials destroyed a UN World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse and seized "donor-funded food aid". 

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar arrived in Somaliland for the first high-level diplomatic visit since it became the first country in the world to recognise the breakaway region’s independence, triggering condemnation and concerns that Palestinians may be forcibly expelled by Israel there. 

Somalia is at a defining moment. Decades of investment in state-building is threatened by a fragmented political landscape, underfunding of the African Union’s military shield, and a humanitarian system running on fumes.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to renew the mandate of the African Union Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) before it expires at the end of December, officials said Monday. In addition to the mandate renewal, the Council will review updates to sanctions under resolution 2713 against Al-Shabaab, including maritime restrictions, which are set to expire on 13 December.

A major funding dispute is threatening the future of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), raising fears that hard-fought gains against militant group al-Shabaab could unravel. During a High-Level Meeting on AUSSOM Financing held on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) in New York, African Union (AU) officials warned of a $180 million budget shortfall that risks paralyzing the mission. 

The group’s influence extends far beyond its rural strongholds. It directly governs nearly a quarter of all district capitals in Somalia, and co-governs almost all areas nominally held by the federal government outside the autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway republic of Somaliland. 

In a landmark move to address one of the most persistent threats to its security, Somalia has launched its first-ever National Counter-IED Strategy, praised by the United Nations as an “important step forward” in the fight against improvised explosives widely used by the Al-Shabaab militant group. 

No damage to the base or coalition property was reported, US Africa Command (Africom) public affairs office confirmed on 5 September. The 4 September attack came just days after consecutive airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia in coordination with the Somalia government on 31 August, and 2 and 3 September 2025. 

Egypt is set to deploy troops to Somalia by the end of the year as part of the African Union's new support and stabilisation mission, replacing departing Burundian forces, Somali authorities said.

The Somali army and international peacekeepers have “fully secured” a strategic town from Islamist militants after over a week of fighting, the defense ministry said Friday. Since the beginning of last year, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Shabaab group has seized dozens of towns and villages in an offensive that has reversed nearly all of the gains made by the troubled Horn of Africa nation’s army in 2022 and 2023.