Trump Now Turns Against Somalis in Minnesota

 The Washington Post published on 22 November 2025 an article titled "Trump Says He Will Cancel Temporary Protected Status of Somalis in Minnesota" by Frances Vinall.  

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said, without evidence and without providing further explanation, that "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of dollars are missing."  As a result, he was terminating effective immediately temporary protected status (TPS) for Somali immigrants living in Minnesota.  

The Minnesota Attorney General pointed out that you cannot terminate TPS for just one state.  There are more than 75,000 persons with Somali heritage living in Minnesota.  Few of them reside there with TPS; the vast majority are US citizens.  According to the Library of Congress, nationwide there were only 705 Somalis with TPS as of August.  

Battle of Adwa and Ethiopian Unity

 Ethiopia Insight published on 6 May 2025 a commentary titled "Adwa Is Not the Only Oppressive Ethiopian Myth" by Tarfassa W. Barooddee, a self-employed Oromo living in North America.

The conventional narrative describes the 1896 Battle of Adwa as a decisive triumph of a united African nation resisting European imperialism.  But the author argues that "this romanticized myth" obscures a harsher truth: victory at Adwa did not spare the subject peoples of the south from oppression and violence.  The author concludes that Ethiopian unity cannot be forged by manipulating history.  

Islamic State Branch in Somalia Goes Multilingual

 The April 2023 edition of the CTC Sentinel includes an article titled "The Islamic State Somalia Propaganda Coalition's Regional Language Push" by Lucas Webber and Daniele Garofalo.

The branch of the Islamic State in Somalia is trying to expand its reach by providing propaganda in Somali, Oromo, Amharic, and Swahili languages.

Ethiopian Hate Speech on Social Media

 The BBC posted on 23 November 2021 an account titled "Ethiopia's Tigray Conflict: What Are Facebook and Twitter Doing about Hate Speech?" by Peter Mwai.

Both pro and anti-government users of Facebook and Twitter have posted hateful and inflammatory content in Amharic, Afan Oromo, Somali, and Tigrinya.  Social media platforms are caught in the middle as they try to manage these postings.  

Ethiopia's Dire Dawa: An Ethnic Melting Pot

 Ethiopia Insight published on 2 August 2021 an analysis titled "Dire Dawa's Dilemma: Sharing Power in Ethiopia's Eastern Melting Pot" by an anonymous author.

Dire Dawa hosts significant numbers of Oromo, Somali, and Amhara and presents a challenge for power sharing.  Numerous political parties are active in the federal district.  

Ethiopia: Preventing the Pot from Boiling Over

Ethiopia Insight posted on 12 February 2019 an analysis titled "Ethiopia Uncorked" by Leake Tewele, reporter in Addis Ababa, and Kulle Kursha, Hawassa University.

Regional and ethnic conflict has displaced more than 1 million Ethiopians since 2017 and there are almost 3 million IDPs in the country. This situation poses a serious challenge to the Abiy Ahmed government.

Ethiopia: Abiy Ahmed Seen as Breath of Fresh Air for Africa

CNN posted on 31 December 2018 a commentary titled "Abiy Ahmed: The Ethiopian Prime Minister Who Captured Africa's Imagination" by Faral Sevenzo.

The author compares the positive story of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's efforts to democratize Ethiopia with less positive political developments in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Uganda.

Ethnic Strife in Ethiopia

The Washington Post published on 21 October 2017 an article titled "'They Started to Burn Our Houses': Ethnic Strife in Ethiopia Threatens a Key U.S. Ally" by Paul Schemm.

The article focuses on ethnic violence in Ethiopia between the Oromo and Somali ethnic groups, especially in areas where the two live side by side. The author says more than 100,000 Ethiopians have been displaced as a result of the strife.

African Language Study in China

Beijing Review published on 31 March 2016 an article titled "Finding the Right Word" by Sudeshna Sarkar, an editorial consultant for ChinAfrica magazine.

The article offers a rare look at the teaching of African languages in China, especially at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.