Why subscribe?

Subscribe to get full access to regular updates, interviews, research, archival material and commentary on Somalia’s modern history, with a specific focus on Siad Barre’s military regime which ruled between 1969 and 1991. The military government which came to power in 1969 promised the Somali people the world but after some initial successes eventually turned into a brutal dictatorship, the enduring legacy of which is a fractured state and traumatised society. It’s a tale of embers and ashes which I hope to piece together by sharing what I’ve been collecting over the years.

Who is Faisal Ali?

I am a journalist, researcher and writer who has been focussed on the Horn of Africa broadly and Somalia specifically for almost half a decade. My reporting has brought fresh perspectives to Somali culture and politics and I now hope to extend that to the country’s contested modern history.

Community

The idea is to shed light on the country’s modern history by using more primary sources to cut through the ways that history has been (mis)used and (mis)represented by political actors across Somalia today. So, feel free to engage, argue and present alternative views. I’ll do my best to respond as and when I can.