Emirati radars, illegal fishing & forest fires
Issue #4: A major fire has broken out across the Daallo Mountains, an ecologically rich area in Sanaag, known for its forests and scenic highlands.
Good morning & welcome back Acacia readers!
A Somali asylum seeker’s case is being reheard after a UK judge confused Somalia’s Hawiye clan with the US state of Hawaii and then threw the claim out. Did the judge Google search Somalia and then get lost on an Expedia ad? Translator and writer Aziz Mahdi suggested it would make an excellent topic for FKD sessions. We’ll have the shah ready. Even stranger, the ruling mentioned a kookaburra farm — perhaps a nod to Somalia’s agro‑pastoralist traditions? We’re not sure, but we can confirm kookaburras are Australian, not Somali.
Meanwhile, a banger from Somali singer Salah Sanaag has clocked more than a million views on YouTube in just a few days — he’s absolutely owning the Somali airwaves right now so give it a listen. Speaking of music, the once Somali rapper P Diddy has been cleared of the most serious charges — sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy — in his high-profile seven-week trial. Despite incredible testimony involving molotovs, forced participation in “freak-offs”, baby oil, and blackmailing Cassie’s mum, his lawyer still had the nerve to play the race card.
Somalia’s ambassador to China, Hodan Osman Abdi, has just been crowned African Woman of the Year 2025. In an Instagram post, she said she was “honoured” to receive the award and offered a glimpse of how she sees the future, quoting a Ugandan poet who performed at the event: “China is the Europe of 100 years ago. Many of our leaders were educated in Europe before they ruled our land — but in the future, many will be those who studied and worked in China!” Abdi completed her PhD at Zhejiang University. Another rising Somali is former Puntland leader Abdiweli Ali Gaas who has been tapped up as the African Union chairperson’s special representative to South Sudan. The country has been teetering on brink of renewed fighting for months. And Somalia is reportedly set to build a new international airport north of the capital, Mogadishu. Regional watcher Rashid Abdi reckons it could one day host a Turkish space station. What a grand venture that would be. Turkey’s development agency, TİKA, has also completed the restoration of the Al-Nejashi Mosque—believed to be the oldest mosque in Africa—after it was damaged during the conflict in Tigray. Somali journalist Abdulrazaq Hassan visited the site for Geeska earlier this year.
Not all is well though. A Deutsche Welle investigation found two Somali YouTubers streaming content which encourages violence and raises cash for fighting in Somalia from their homes in Germany. The report’s impartiality has been vigorously contested, but the case casts a spotlight on the really toxic impact that diaspora (and resident) social‑media warriors have on politics back home. The Telegraph reported—and Geeska’s Ibrahim Osman covered—the phenomenon which the latter dubbed “cyber clannism”. Cardiologist and Somali intellectual Mohammed Aden Sheikh described it as “remote clannism.”
Welcome, if you haven’t heard—this is Acacia, Geeska’s weekly dispatch from the Horn and beyond. We’re on our fourth issue and we’ve been going for a month! We bring you the news that matters to Somalis: from Mogadishu to Minneapolis, Hargeisa to Hounslow. East Africa is our backyard, but we’ll flag what’s driving conversations across the continent too. Think of it as your one-stop shop for all things us. (You’re welcome.)
That’s the entrée. Now for a deeper dive into the stories we’re featuring this week: a massive and unusual forest fire in the Sanaag region, the impact of illegal fishing on Somalia, and growing reports that Puntland is facilitating arms transfers from the UAE to Sudan.
Environment: Wildfires breakout in Sanaag’s Daallo Mountains
A major fire has broken out across the Daallo Mountains, a green and ecologically rich area in Sanaag known for its forests and scenic highlands. The blaze burned through an extensive stretch of farmland for more than 24 hours, with no significant response or containment efforts. Somaliland’s agriculture ministry has confirmed that more than 220 farms were destroyed. (Footage was shared on social media). Saleban Sahal, the digital strategy chief in Somaliland’s presidency, said “the livelihoods of our hardworking farmers have been turned to ashes by devastating wildfires, worsened by the impacts of climate change.” Somalia’s deputy prime minister, Salah Jama, appealed for increased “development financing” following the incident, to help combat what he also described as a “climate-induced” fire in Daallo.
In recent years, experts have issued growing warnings about the impact of climate change across the Horn of Africa. A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council said that Somalia contributes just 0.03% to global climate emissions, yet “finds itself bearing the brunt of climate change’s wrath”, from irregular rainfall patterns to droughts, floods, and now fires. Neither Somalia nor Somaliland possesses firefighting resources capable of responding to or mitigating such disasters should they recur. This was seen in major recent fires in Hargeisa and Mogadishu which burnt through major markets in both cities.
Environment: Illegal fishing in Somali waters
Illegal fishing in Somali waters has long been rampant and largely unchecked—maritime looting that has driven many coastal communities to take up arms in desperation. Recently, The Telegraph reported a resurgence of piracy in the Red Sea, driven by deteriorating maritime security following Houthi attacks on US‑ and Israeli‑affiliated ships. Though the Houthi attacks have created a security vacuum for pirates to re‑emerge, they have also enabled foreign vessels to plunder Somali waters with impunity. Speaking before the Puntland parliament, the state’s fisheries minister said that Somalia loses over $300 million annually to illegal fishing. Between 1981 and 2014, foreign vessels extracted approximately 2.5 million metric tonnes of fish from Somalia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, more than double the domestic catch of 1.2 million tonnes. The problem is worsening.
A recent ENACT report revealed widespread illegal fishing of endangered species, including the gulper shark (for its prized liver oil), despite Puntland’s restriction measure introduced last year. The illicit trade is facilitated by a shadowy supply chain involving local brokers, exporters, and corrupt officials. To evade detection, gulper shark oil is smuggled via covert ship-to-ship transfers at sea, rather than through official Puntland ports. Bound primarily for markets in China and the Gulf, the oil fetches high prices but remains untraceable. Jethro Norman, a Somalia specialist at the Danish Institute for International Studies, tells Acacia that illegal fishing in Somalia isn’t just a problem of weak enforcement it’s “a global racket”. “It’s a system that treats Somali waters as a free-for-all; rewarding extraction, [and] punishing subsistence,” he adds. “Somalia has the potential to build a thriving and locally led blue economy, but that future is being stolen in real time, net by net.”
Politics: Who is in really in charge of the ONLF?
An internal leadership crisis within the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)—a Somali nationalist group that fought for decades against the Ethiopian government for the self-determination of the Somali-inhabited Ogaden region—has intensified in recent weeks. Abdikarim Qalbi-Dhagah, the group’s longest-serving military-wing leader and a household name among Somalis, was elected as the ONLF’s new leader at a party congress; however, a statement on X from the group’s official account denounced the entire process as “illegitimate and politically orchestrated” and accused the government of “a state-orchestrated takeover” of its leadership. What is going on in Jijiga?
Juweria Ali, a leading expert on the group and research fellow at the University of Westminster, says the ONLF is now “split”, with the main dispute centred on the impact of a 2018 peace treaty the organisation signed with newly elected Abiy Ahmed, ending decades of conflict with the government. “There is no consensus on what peaceful political struggle looks like”, Ali tells Acacia. One faction, led by current leader Qalbi-Dhagah, wants to work pragmatically with the government, she says. The other, led by Abdirahman Mahdi—controversially ousted as leader in April—sees Qalbi-Dhagah’s group as co-opted and straying from the ONLF’s original path.
The new leadership appears to have the backing of the Somali region’s president, Mustafe Omar, who congratulated Qalbi-Dhagah on his new role in a BBC Somali interview and was recognised by the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) suggesting the Prosperity party, which rules Ethiopia approves. Jama Hassan Gallad, a veteran ONLF member turned popular and polarising political commentator, last month said the party today has become “unrecognisable”, adding: “I regret spending so much of my time with the ONLF.”
Politics: Somaliland explores ties with Qatar
Earlier this week, Abdirahman Irro became the first Somaliland president to visit Qatar, signalling a shift in foreign policy away from its recent alignment with Qatar’s Gulf rival, the UAE. A read out from Somaliland’s presidency said the meeting focussed on a “shared agenda centered on diplomatic cooperation, economic opportunity, and sustainable development.” Suhaib Mahmoud, Geeska’s editor-in-chief, said the trip signals a “tangible shift in Hargeisa’s diplomatic approach” towards “non-traditional partners, as it strives to break its international isolation and strengthen its political standing”.
This is important for another reason as well: Doha has historically been a key supporter of Somalia’s central government, offering diplomatic, financial, and even military backing to Mogadishu. That was reflected in the statement Qatar released after the meeting, in which it “reaffirmed” its longstanding “one Somalia” policy — a stance that has irked Somaliland officials. But it does reveal the beginning of an “openness” on both sides to engage in dialogue, which “may be more significant than the headlines suggest”, adds Mahmoud. Qatar will find it difficult to present itself as an impartial mediator—as it did last week between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo—but it can still play a role by incentivising problem solving.
Security: Is Puntland allowing the UAE to transit weapons through Bosaso to Sudan?
Since the start of the Sudan war, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as a key backer of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group accused of war crimes and genocide in Darfur. African Intelligence now reports that Bosaso Airport in Puntland has become a “centrepiece” for the UAE’s covert arms transfers to the RSF, facilitated by the Abu Dhabi’s close ties to Puntland’s leadership and the airport’s strategic location near the Gulf of Aden. The story was first reported by Middle East Eye in April. In May, Sudan lodged a complaint with Somalia’s federal government about Puntland. However, Puntland denies allowing such transfers, and the UAE denies arming the RSF—despite US senator Chris Van Hollen releasing a letter from the Biden administration stating that the UAE would not continue arming the RSF “going forward”. A tacit admission, perhaps?
The reports have sparked criticism from Somali political figures. The former president of Hirshabelle (one of Somalia’s federal states), Ali Abdullahi Osoble, accused Puntland’s current leader, Said Deni, of granting the UAE a military base in Bosaso and allowing Somalia to be used as a transit point in the Sudan conflict. Somalia’s former foreign minister, Abdisaid Muse Ali, who served the last president, Mohamed Farmaajo, also implicated Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, saying that such operations would require his explicit knowledge and approval.
Across the gees
A recent report by The Sentry alleges that Eritrean troops carried out widespread looting across northern Tigray during the war, targeting civilian homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. Soldiers reportedly seized cash, mobile phones, jewellery, and electronics in building-to-building raids, while larger items such as diesel generators were allegedly loaded onto trucks using cranes. Eritrean officers have also profited from illegal gold mining, and valuable historical artefacts have been looted from Tigray. Eritrea released a statement calling The Sentry report “libellous and defamatory”.
In Ethiopia, four doctors remain in detention despite the end of a nationwide strike that began in mid-May over low wages and poor working conditions. Among them is Dr Daniel Fentaneh of Tibebe Ghion Specialised Hospital in the Amhara region, who has been held without charge for over a week. The others currently in custody are Dr Tofik Aman, Wendimnew Wale Jenber, and Yaregal Hawultu. Selam Gebremedhin, an Ethiopian doctor herself, wrote for Geeska about what drove the doctors to take industrial action. This graphic illustrates it.
In a recent interview with Lamis Elhadidy, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdel Atty firmly reiterated Egypt’s categorical opposition to any form of “foreign presence” in the Red Sea by countries not geographically connected to its shores. It was a clear allusion to Ethiopia which has maritime ambitions despite being landlocked. He declared that “the Red Sea is a red line” for Egypt, emphasising that the area is of exclusive concern to its littoral states. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has said that Addis Ababa will pursue sea access only through peaceful means.
Africa
A recent study published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, has warned that continued funding cuts to US humanitarian programs could lead to over 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under five. In March, the US announced it would not be cutting its premier aid agency, USAid, despite the Trump administration’s belief that it no longer serves American interests.
Tangents
This week, we’re highlighting a discussion between Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden of the China Global South Project and Riley Duke of the Lowy Institute on Africa’s debt crisis, examining how debt repayments are derailing low-income countries and how Chinese lending to Africa differs from that of other global creditors.
That’s all from us. Nabad gelyo, and for more, visit our website: https://www.geeska.com/en
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