Had the chance to speak with BBC Mundo about the current situation in Somalia and US policy there www.bbc.com/mundo/articl...

Another example of all that is wrong with the Home Office and the hateful immigration rhetoric in the UK. And why should she have to pay visa fees if her parent is British? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

(Although one point here is that the left should maybe start trying to actually have the argument on issues like this, instead of just giving up on it and hoping that if the policy is passed quietly no one will notice)

New XCEPT report by Hilina Berhanu Degefa on women’s participation in Ethiopia’s ethnonational armed groups. Completed through the Women Researchers Fellowship in the X-Border Local Research Network, where RVI is a core partner. Read here: tinyurl.com/w8dupaah

The UK isn’t a “soft touch” on asylum. UK asylum seeker benefits are similar to European neighbours No right to work before 12 months (it’s 6 months in France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands) UK settlement after 5 years (it’s 3 or 4 in Germany) Let’s cut out the alarmist rhetoric.

This is a new low from a govt plumbing the depths of performative cruelty in hopes that the public won’t notice they have no answers to the real issues facing this country A sensible, humane govt would focus on safe routes to prevent people making dangerous small boat crossings

Stella Creasy MP writes that the asylum proposals of the Labour government are "performatively cruel" and likely to be ineffective in securing control or going after the smuggling gangs www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I came to this country as a child refugee. No English, no certainty, no idea what my life could become. Britain gave me refuge. Not on a timer, not with conditions attached, but with a chance to grow roots. A thread 🧵 1/8 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sickening rhetoric by Home Secretary. Denying access to human rights isn't "protecting the public". This is Labour further demonising those seeking asylum in language very reminiscent of the far right. Yes, some break the law, so should be prosecuted within the law. Removing rights is not the answer

On 18 Nov, the Northeast Africa Forum will be co-hosting a book launch & discussion at Maison Française d'Oxford (4pm UK time). Catherine Dom will be discussing 'Mekelle Stories: Life in Time of War' Full details & venue address: talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/3aa...

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round

TB to the time when I was writing about Sudan to talk about art, not war... Born in Khartoum in 1966, artist Salah Elmur now lives and works in Cairo, yet, no matter where in the world he finds himself, Sudan is always at the heart of his work... wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/sala...

🚨A serious security breach has been identified in #Somalia Government’s e-Visa system, posing a significant cybersecurity and data protection risk to all users, including international personnel and staff from the global community operating in Somalia. This is very concerning!

Creative pals, we need you! A group of us are running an auction to raise funds for the Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan. Sudanese people are dealing with the worst humanitarian crisis since records began. Can you donate mentoring/art/signed books etc? SIGN UP HERE: www.sudancoup.com/auction

I can't remember who sent me the link for this but I'm so glad it was pointed in my direction. Every Saturday. You get it for free in your WhatsApp

Two things the UAE is currently sponsoring: 1) The NBA in-season tournament 2) Genocide in Sudan

Famine has now been declared in regions of Sudan. What does it take for such a declaration to be issued?

If you’re looking for a practical way to support survivors of the RSF massacre in El Fasher, Darfur please consider donating to this mutual aid campaign. The humanitarian response in Sudan has been a victim of the massive cuts in international aid over the last 5 years and mutual aid is critical.

Blood spilled in Sudan can be seen from space.... This is not normal. I have no words. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Genocide resumes, reads this weekend's cover of @thecontinent.org, as El Fasher falls to the Rapid Support Forces after a year long siege. Gruesome images of their killing spree that is estimated to have killed thousands, make the rounds. What Sudanese activists warned would happen is playing out.

Please take a moment to absorb the enormity of what is unfolding in Darfur right now. open.substack.com/pub/globaldi...

Internet shutdown in Tanzania as protests erupt over the suppression of opposition politicians challenging President Samia Suluhu.

"The problem is not the Albanians. The problem is where to the find the scapegoats for this disastrous decision to leave Europe. It is a disaster." Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania on the consequences of Britain leaving the European Union. Watch in full➡️ bit.ly/4qkZnS0

(if anyone would like to maybe start some sort of campaigning or pressure group of and on behalf of immigrants with ILR and settled status in Britain then I would be interested in helping, or indeed trying to get it off the ground myself, email in bio, etc)

Window cleaner comes to collect £5 every 2 weeks, usually on friday when I'm off work. Recently noticed the windows were filthy. Said I will complain to him. Wife said we don't have a window cleaner. Turns out I've been getting conned by a local addict known as Karl the crackhead.

Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a key figure in African politics, has died of a heart attack in India, a hospital in India’s Kerala State confirmed. He was 80.

Octopus in Yoruba is apparently "Ayéfófo" or more recently "ẹja ẹlẹsẹ mẹjọ." The latter literally means the eight-legged fish. When consumed as meat, it's called "fọ́ntọ́nfọ́ntọ́n", which I personally translate as "eww! yuck! Squishy!"

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

Today in Proximities: - Mutharika, 85, sweeps back to power in Malawi - Four killed during protests in India's Ladakh - Eleven fresh Ebola cases in DR Congo As usual, you can read it in under two mins. www.proximities.news/p/malawi-ind...

if you want more Ulster borderlands there is a 20% discount for the paperback of my book - Ulster's Lost Counties: Loyalism and Paramilitarism since 1920 - using the following code: HIST2125 www.cambridge.org/core/books/u...

My opinion piece for the Irish Times www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Fantastic column by @stephenkb.bsky.social "Racism in the UK remains the preserve of an extreme minority — but one that is emboldened and growing louder. It is the result of a year in which neither the government nor the opposition have been willing to draw red lines." www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

‘They slaughtered us like animals’: the inside story of how one of the biggest atrocities of the Sudan war unfolded in Zamzam

I recommend reading this report by Dr. Suliman Baldo @SulimanBaldo and Ahmed Soliman on gold and the war in Sudan. It demonstrates that most of the gold extracted from Sudan is ending up in the UAE, including gold mined in SAF controlled areas. www.chathamhouse.org/sites/defaul...

I'm seeing non-Sudanese on here say they don't know where to get daily news reports on Sudan - Sudanese outlets that also report in English include: Radio Dabanga, Ayin Network, and Sudan Tribune (links: www.dabangasudan.org/en, 3ayin.com/en/, sudantribune.com). 1/

I bought a yellow car recently so I can drive by and watch people punch each other in the arm.

The world's worst humanitarian crisis is being ignored, with over 8 million people displaced, 500,000 children dead from hunger. Cholera and war crimes spreading in silence.

In today's Proximities. - Horrific report points to genocide in Ethiopia - A Palestinian mother's story - just one of many - And Bukele clears path for third term As always, it can be read in under two minutes. www.proximities.news/p/ethiopia-g...

Read more about Proximities - and subscribe! - here. www.proximities.news

When I started out in journalism, I was a big believer in the liberal idea of progress. I thought things were getting better in the world - because they were. What I now recognise is that things get better because people work to improve them. Once that work stops, things get worse

Few if any experts know more about the deliberate use of starvation as a war crime than Alex de Waal. If he says it's happening, it's so.

Time to stop merely putting options on the table / try using them.

Not a great looking graph for Ireland when it comes to support for Ukraine - in today’s FT.

Three stunning and shaming paragraphs, by Rachel Wolf of Public First, in @theobserveruk.bsky.social

Boniface Mwangi's arrest: part of a pattern of escalating repression sweeping East Africa. nation.africa/kenya/news/p...

The #Glacier Loss Day is reached in Switzerland! From now on all melt that occurs on glaciers until October is unsustainable. This tipping point has only been reached so early in the record-shattering year 2022. Expect big ice loss due to the prolonged melt season and feedback effects

#Sudan: Mass killings and starvation threaten hundreds of thousands of people trapped in El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, as fighting closes in, the charity Doctors Without Borders has warned its latest report. rfi.my/BoXc.BS

"...24.6 million people in Sudan facing acute food insecurity —nearly half the population, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Aid workers say the war spiked market prices, limited aid delivery, and shrunk agricultural lands" apnews.com/article/suda...

Appalling and shameful. We should be better than this.

A total of 16 people were reportedly killed, and over 400 injured, during protests that shook #Kenya yesterday. Anger has crystallised over widespread reporting of policy brutality. @meronel.bsky.social writes on how the government can address the discontent. www.crisisgroup.org/africa/east-...