Racism, visa free travel to Kenya & Speed does the dhaanto

Issue #6: Minnesota state senator, Omar Fateh, launches Minneapolis mayoral bid amid a wave of racist attacks from far-right figures.

Faisal Ali

and

Mahbub M Abdillahi

Jul 19, 2025

This week, we cover Kenya going visa free, Omar Fateh’s mayoral run in Minneapolis and Speed doing the dhaanto. (Graphic: Geeska)

Good morning everyone and welcome to another issue of Acacia, Geeska’s weekly East Africa newsletter!

It’s been a week of highs, lows, and oddities for Somalis online. We’ve just come across an account solely dedicated to posting AI-generated videos of Somalis behaving unusually. In one clip, an elderly woman, caught in the midst of the UK’s heatwave, says: “The UK sun is roasting me more than an angry Somali on Clubhouse during lockdown.” @fboogielivee, a Somali content producer best known for scandalising the British public by jamming outside Buckingham Palace, has now braided his hair. The popular YouTuber Speed was gifted a macawiis during his trip to Finland — an excellent opportunity to spotlight that sartorial staple of Somali manhood. The macawiis was handed over by Muhis Najat, another content creator and all-things-Somali enthusiast from Finland, whose TikTok is also an absolute riot. They did the dhaanto after, a traditional Somali folk dance.

Speed and Muhis Najat do the *dhaanto.* (Screengrab: YouTube | IShowSpeed)

Elsewhere it hasn’t been so jovial. A Somali man went viral on TikTok — and later on Twitter — after giving a tour of Small Heath, Birmingham, which was littered with rubbish. In the clip, he claimed the mess was due to the area’s high Muslim population. He wasn’t happy but he should probably read the news. Bin workers are also on strike there. His remarks likely had the backing of the same people harassing Omar Fateh, a Somali-American politician who has announced he’s running for mayor of Minneapolis. He’s been facing an online avalanche of xenophobic abuse. X user @hayxtt flagged the “specific kind of racism Somalis face”, describing it as a “brutal” mix between Islamophobia and anti-blackness. @RadioGenoa, home of fascist clickbait and moral panic about Muslims in the West, also posted a clip from a 2023 funeral for five Somali girls killed in a car crash, captioned: “It looks like Somalia but it’s America, Minnesota.” Another extreme-right wing account, @dissidentwest, used a statistic about the fertility of Somali women warning of an imminent takeover. Arthur Kwon Lee, an US-based artist, went as far as to claim Somalis “don’t have souls”. We’ve got no idea who he is either. While Fateh was attacked for being Somali, Ramla Ali, the British-Somali boxer, faced similar abuse for apparently not being Somali enough. She’s addressed her doubters on TikTok. “What are you if you aren’t Somali,” her mother responded touchingly.

The team at Journal Gobanimo have released the second issue of their expansive magazine, themed “Power, Politics, and Belonging”. Their output is an excellent supplement for anyone seeking serious reading that more critically engages with what it means to be Somali today. We missed it last week, but British-Somali poet Momtaza Mehri’s book, Bad Diaspora Poems, was shortlisted by The Guardian as one of the best paperbacks for July. Check both those out. And wewantwraiths has just dropped Mob Style, with Swedish-Somali rapper Yasin. Somali writer Ayan Artan has this moving message for us: “the world is filled with art; go seek it out. don’t rely on these algorithms. buy random dvds at the charity shop and get a library card. art is the curing of callousness. your life will be better for it, i promise.”

Memory: Bloody Monday

This week marks the grim anniversary of Bloody Monday, also known as the “Abdi House raid” in Mogadishu on 12th July 1993. UN-backed American forces launched a helicopter missile strike on the home of Abdi Hassan Awale, now Somali senator (better known as Qaybdiid) killing around 70 people, according to Red Cross. The Somali-American journalist, Mohamed Gabobe, brought this to our attention.

Earlier that week, admiral Jonathan Howe, the then UN secretary-general’s special representative, had called for dialogue with the Somali National Alliance (SNA), led by Mohamed Farah Aidid. In response, Qaybdiid, a close ally of Aidid, recalled that they began organising a council to discuss the initiative at his house. In an interview with MM Somali TV in 2021 Qaybdiid said the meeting was attended by around 86 people, including clan elders, politicians, and scholars. As Qaybdiid began addressing the gathering, he recalled the sound of an aircraft overhead, followed by intense bombardment that killed many civilians. General Aidid’s popularity surged in the aftermath, and US credibility in Somalia was irreversibly damaged. Thomas Montgomery was the American commander responsible for the raid, and in an interview with PBS Frontline, he said the attack was the “most amount of force that we had used” in Mogadishu until then. He disputes the casualty figures, but it was widely seen as a turning point for Americans in Somalia, triggering hostilities that culminated in the Battle of Mogadishu. La Repubblica, a left-wing Italian daily, called the air strike “incomprehensible and unjustifiable”. The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper asked: “Who Are the Warlords Now?”

Politics: Tensions continue rising in Sanaag

Fighting has erupted in the contested Sanaag region as Puntland forces clashed with local militias near Dhahar, displacing hundreds. The region is claimed by Puntland, Somaliland, and SSC-Khaatumo (SSC–K). While the precise trigger remains unclear, veteran journalist Harun Maruf reported tensions escalated after Puntland’s forces attempted to use a road in the area which locals objected to. Local clan elders blamed Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni and demanded the withdrawal of his troops. Puntland said the federal government, which wants the region placed under SSC-K, was “stirring up conflict”.

The clashes come amid growing competition between Puntland and SSC-K for control of Sanaag and the loyalty of the Warsangeli clan who reside there. The elites in both states have genealogical ties to the Warsangeli who appear divided on what to do. We covered that last week.

The crisis is further complicated by tensions between Deni and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, rooted in a rushed constitutional change last year and issues around the upcoming election where both are key contenders. Elites in Garowe fear the federal government’s backing of SSC-K is an attempt to “dismantle” Puntland and redistribute its parliamentary seats to groups likely to support the incumbent in an election (MPs elected the president in the prior electoral system). This concern is likely driving Puntland’s renewed claim that the entire SSC-K region belongs to it.

Politics: Everyone is launching a political party!

Since President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration announced a return to a one person, one vote electoral system for the 2026 elections, Somalia has witnessed a surge in political party formation. Former planning minister Abdi Aynte, co-founder of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies, is the latest to launch a party, joining a growing roster—including former prime minister Abdi Farah Shirdon—who declared his party earlier this year. In May, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud started his Justice and Solidarity Party, cobbling together the governing elite. Over 40 parties have now been registered.

Somalia’s early electoral systems emerged before independence: Italian Somaliland adopted closed-list proportional representation in 1959, while British Somaliland used first-past-the-post in early 1960, Somali scholar Afyare Elmi writes. After unification, the Somali Republic adopted a nationwide PR system and expanded electoral districts. This incentivised the creation of numerous parties. But a 1968 electoral law introduced a threshold aimed at reducing the number of smaller parties, which had ballooned to around 60 in the late 1960s. Democracy came to an end with a military coup in 1969, and Somalis have not voted for their leaders since. This time the Somali government has restricted the number of parties allowed to contest national elections to three, like Somaliland and Puntland. The rest will have to watch or support those parties.

Diaspora: Omar Fateh the “Mamdani of Minneapolis”

Minnesota state senator Omar Fateh, a Somali American politician who has been dubbed the “Mamdani of Minneapolis” by Newsweek, has launched his campaign for mayor of Minneapolis and almost immediately became the target of a wave of racism and Islamophobia from far-right influencers. Notorious MAGA figures, including Charlie Kirk, posted “Muslims are commanded to take over the government” to stoke fear. Political analyst @OmarBaddar questioned how Kirk could “go from rightly insisting that antisemitism should have no place in America to propagating the most disgusting anti-Muslim bigotry.” Another influencer, @kate_p45, called for banning non–American-born citizens from holding office, ironically ignoring the fact that Fateh was born in the United States. She deleted her tweet. Even Sky News Australia had a segment on him. We’re also not sure what the fuck this has to do with them.

Despite the vitriol, Fateh has also received strong support. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, whom Fateh is challenging, posted on X: “Senator Omar Fateh is a proud American,” adding, “I’m proud that Minneapolis is a place where he can run against me on his own merits.” Online, Somalis also rallied in solidarity following a week of anti-Somali xenophobia on the internet. Najma Sharif, a Somali writer said that Somalis are “architects of our own visibility” and “don’t allow people to write our story for us”. “The Somali-American diaspora is up next, that’s why the hate is getting louder,” she added. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the US’s largest civil rights and Muslim advocacy organisation, condemned the “racist hate”.

Economy: Trump plans to tax remittances

The Trump administration has enacted a new US federal remittance tax of 1% as part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”. This tax will apply to all senders, regardless of their legal status in the US. In 2023 alone, remittances from the US to the Global South reached $656 billion, far surpassing foreign aid $224 billion. The tax is projected to cause a 1.6% decline in remittance flows. In Somalia, remittances are a lifeline. The Somali diaspora remits over $1.3 billion annually, with Somali-Americans contributing $215 million—nearly matching the US government’s entire 2012 humanitarian and development aid to Somalia – $242 million.

Across the gees

Kenya has officially abolished visa requirements for the majority of Caribbean countries and all African countries — except Somalia and Libya — “due to security concerns”, the country’s cabinet has said. This policy was initially introduced back in January, placing Kenya alongside Rwanda, Seychelles, The Gambia, and Benin as African nations willing to welcome all Africans. It is notoriously difficult for Africans to travel to other African countries.
US President Donald Trump has said he is “working on” resolving Egypt’s dispute with Ethiopia over the latter’s project to build a large dam, calling it a “big problem” that was going to get “resolved”. At a press conference at the White House, Trump said: “If I am Egypt, I want to have water in the Nile. And we’re working on that one.” Trump, who during his first term said Egypt could bomb the dam, added that the Nile was a source of “life and income for Egypt, and to take that away is an incredible thing.” Trump, however wrongly claimed the dam was financed by the US government, which has irked the fact-checkers over at Addis Standard.
Ethiopia’s intelligence service has announced the arrest of 82 suspected IS-Somalia members — the largest such roundup of alleged members of the group we know of. Authorities said the suspects were trained in the militant group’s East Africa hub in Puntland, where authorities are fighting them, and then crossed the border to carry out operations. Caleb Weiss, an expert on the group, posted: “Somewhat unsurprising given that Ethiopians were/are one of the largest contingents of the group and IS-Som has historically used Eth as a transport/logistics hub”.

Africa

How long is too long at the helm of a country? Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, now 92 (and the world’s oldest head of state), is seeking his eighth term, having ruled since 1982. This would extend his 43-year reign. “The best is still to come,” he said in a post on X. Semafor has put together this handy table of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. We don’t think it’s fair to include King Mswati III of Eswatini on this list, as his country is a monarchy and Afwerki has bluntly said his country doesn’t do elections (fake or otherwise).

Tangents

We’ve published the first episode of our podcast, featuring renowned Somali scholar and thinker Professor Ahmed Ismail Samatar. The interview is conducted in Somali, so get a translator if you need one. Samatar reflects on his intellectual journey, the books he has written on Somali politics, economics, and history, major debates in Somali Studies, and the role of music and poetry in Somali life.