Faisal
@faisalahali.bsky.social
Freelance journalist reporting on Somalia and East Africa.
🔗 https://www.aljazeera.com/author/faisal-ali
🔗 https://www.aljazeera.com/author/faisal-ali
Reposted by Faisal
Samir Zitouni, 48, was left with critical injuries after he confronted the perpetrator, who wounded 10 people on the Doncaster to London King's Cross service on Saturday.
www.newarab.com/news/algeria...
www.newarab.com/news/algeria...
Algerian worker praised for ’heroism’ during UK train attack
A rail worker who saved multiple lives during last week’s mass stabbing attack on a UK train has been named as Algerian Samir Zitouni.
www.newarab.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Samir Zitouni, 48, was left with critical injuries after he confronted the perpetrator, who wounded 10 people on the Doncaster to London King's Cross service on Saturday.
www.newarab.com/news/algeria...
www.newarab.com/news/algeria...
I spoke with three survivors of the RSF assault on el-Fasher. They described the city’s fall in harrowing detail and a desperate journey, carrying children and themselves wounded for days to reach safety in Tawila.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...
New light shed on el-Fasher horror as survivors arrive in Sudan’s Tawila
Testimonies describe bodies in streets, families torn apart and days without food as paramilitary seizes Sudan city.
www.aljazeera.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I spoke with three survivors of the RSF assault on el-Fasher. They described the city’s fall in harrowing detail and a desperate journey, carrying children and themselves wounded for days to reach safety in Tawila.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Faisal
An ad in today’s LA Times paid for by San Francisco-based pro-Israel organization “Facts and Logic About the Middle East” calls accusations of Israel committing genocide in Gaza “blood libel” and says “genocide liars deserve the label of ‘antisemite’”
November 2, 2025 at 7:46 PM
An ad in today’s LA Times paid for by San Francisco-based pro-Israel organization “Facts and Logic About the Middle East” calls accusations of Israel committing genocide in Gaza “blood libel” and says “genocide liars deserve the label of ‘antisemite’”
Reposted by Faisal
Reading. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/w...
Working Past 100? In Japan, Some People Never Quit.
www.nytimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reading. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/w...
I interviewed Sami Hamdi's wife and his legal team. He's a British-Tunisian commentator and pro-Palestine activist that has been detained by US immigration authorities. He's been held by ICE for almost a week now
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
‘Bring him home’: Sami Hamdi’s wife urges US to release UK journalist
Soumaya Hamdi describes shock detention at San Francisco airport as lawyers file emergency legal challenge.
www.aljazeera.com
November 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I interviewed Sami Hamdi's wife and his legal team. He's a British-Tunisian commentator and pro-Palestine activist that has been detained by US immigration authorities. He's been held by ICE for almost a week now
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Faisal
The night of rebellion that changed France and Algeria forever:
On the night of 31 October 1954, a series of attacks across colonial Algeria marked the start of the Algerian War – a bloody conflict that would last eight years.
rfi.my/B5iV.BS
On the night of 31 October 1954, a series of attacks across colonial Algeria marked the start of the Algerian War – a bloody conflict that would last eight years.
rfi.my/B5iV.BS
The night of rebellion that changed France and Algeria forever
On the night of 31 October 1954, a series of attacks across colonial Algeria marked the start of the Algerian War – a bloody conflict that would last eight years. Claimed by the newly formed National…
rfi.my
November 1, 2025 at 9:22 AM
The night of rebellion that changed France and Algeria forever:
On the night of 31 October 1954, a series of attacks across colonial Algeria marked the start of the Algerian War – a bloody conflict that would last eight years.
rfi.my/B5iV.BS
On the night of 31 October 1954, a series of attacks across colonial Algeria marked the start of the Algerian War – a bloody conflict that would last eight years.
rfi.my/B5iV.BS
Mohammed Zakaria lost sleep tracking el-Fasher’s fall, then saw on social media that his family had been killed.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Sudanese activist sees his executed uncles in RSF videos from el-Fasher
Mohammed Zakaria lost sleep tracking el-Fasher’s fall, then saw on social media that his family had been killed.
www.aljazeera.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Mohammed Zakaria lost sleep tracking el-Fasher’s fall, then saw on social media that his family had been killed.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Africa has seen a wave of coups over the last five years. I dug into why this pattern keeps repeating itself, even in countries with totally different circumstances.
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/africas-mi...
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/africas-mi...
Africa’s militaries re-enter the driver’s seat
Ten coups in five years have returned Africa’s soldiers to power. Cast as saviors against corrupt civilians, they now rule across the continent but history shows their promises rarely deliver.
somaliarchive77.substack.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Africa has seen a wave of coups over the last five years. I dug into why this pattern keeps repeating itself, even in countries with totally different circumstances.
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/africas-mi...
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/africas-mi...
The Madagascar coup, though popularly backed, continues a long-running trend of the militarisation of African politics in recent years, beginning with the belt stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, to Gabon to now Madagascar.
apnews.com/article/mada...
apnews.com/article/mada...
Leader of Madagascar's military coup tells AP he is 'taking the position of president'
The leader of Madagascar's military coup says he is “taking the position of president” and that the armed forces will remain in charge of the sprawling African island nation for up to two years before...
apnews.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
The Madagascar coup, though popularly backed, continues a long-running trend of the militarisation of African politics in recent years, beginning with the belt stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, to Gabon to now Madagascar.
apnews.com/article/mada...
apnews.com/article/mada...
"Thirty-two African nations spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare, while 25 allocate more to debt than to education."
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Urgent debt relief demanded for Africa amid public sector crisis
Many African nations now spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare and education.
www.aljazeera.com
October 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
"Thirty-two African nations spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare, while 25 allocate more to debt than to education."
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
"While Mengistu’s move may advance Soviet aims in Africa (see box), it also relieves the U.S. of the moral burden of backing yet another bloodthirsty dictatorship."
Archives, May 1977
time.com/archive/6881...
Archives, May 1977
time.com/archive/6881...
time.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
"While Mengistu’s move may advance Soviet aims in Africa (see box), it also relieves the U.S. of the moral burden of backing yet another bloodthirsty dictatorship."
Archives, May 1977
time.com/archive/6881...
Archives, May 1977
time.com/archive/6881...
Been looking into why Jimmy Carter didn’t frame the 1977 Somalia-Ethiopia war purely in Cold War terms & back Mogadishu when Moscow supported Ethiopia.
His administration was signalling it no longer wanted a reactive, anti-Soviet policy in the Third World.
His administration was signalling it no longer wanted a reactive, anti-Soviet policy in the Third World.
October 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Been looking into why Jimmy Carter didn’t frame the 1977 Somalia-Ethiopia war purely in Cold War terms & back Mogadishu when Moscow supported Ethiopia.
His administration was signalling it no longer wanted a reactive, anti-Soviet policy in the Third World.
His administration was signalling it no longer wanted a reactive, anti-Soviet policy in the Third World.
My latest blogpost looks at the almost simultaneous collapse of Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia's governments at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s
89'-91: Northeast Africa's “collective near-death experience”
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/89-91-nort...
89'-91: Northeast Africa's “collective near-death experience”
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/89-91-nort...
89'-91: Northeast Africa's “collective near-death experience”
Between 1989 and 1991, every government from Chad to Somalia collapsed. The region still grapples with the legacy of this tumultous period.
somaliarchive77.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:35 PM
My latest blogpost looks at the almost simultaneous collapse of Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia's governments at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s
89'-91: Northeast Africa's “collective near-death experience”
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/89-91-nort...
89'-91: Northeast Africa's “collective near-death experience”
somaliarchive77.substack.com/p/89-91-nort...
Attackers wore military uniform and rode vehicles imitating security forces to breach a high-security prison in the capital.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Al-Shabab fighters killed in Mogadishu prison assault, Somalia confirms
Attackers wore military uniform and rode vehicles imitating security forces to breach a high-security prison in capital.
www.aljazeera.com
October 5, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Attackers wore military uniform and rode vehicles imitating security forces to breach a high-security prison in the capital.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Faisal
"Numbers matter... Yet Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway University of London fears the continent is now on the cusp of a new 'data dark age'."
My latest 👇
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
My latest 👇
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
Measuring mortality is getting even harder in Africa
One estimate puts deaths in the war in Tigray at 5,325; another at 600,000
www.economist.com
September 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
"Numbers matter... Yet Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway University of London fears the continent is now on the cusp of a new 'data dark age'."
My latest 👇
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
My latest 👇
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
Reposted by Faisal
THREAD: this investigation took up over half my year, but it's here in @thecontinent.org:
A Djiboutian drone strike in January was depicted as a army operation targeting rebels. It was actually a massacre of civilians. The bloodshed & coverup implicating Ethiopia, Djibouti, France & Turkiye.
#OSINT
A Djiboutian drone strike in January was depicted as a army operation targeting rebels. It was actually a massacre of civilians. The bloodshed & coverup implicating Ethiopia, Djibouti, France & Turkiye.
#OSINT
September 28, 2025 at 4:14 AM
THREAD: this investigation took up over half my year, but it's here in @thecontinent.org:
A Djiboutian drone strike in January was depicted as a army operation targeting rebels. It was actually a massacre of civilians. The bloodshed & coverup implicating Ethiopia, Djibouti, France & Turkiye.
#OSINT
A Djiboutian drone strike in January was depicted as a army operation targeting rebels. It was actually a massacre of civilians. The bloodshed & coverup implicating Ethiopia, Djibouti, France & Turkiye.
#OSINT
Reposted by Faisal
Who doesn't like a September dramatic sky?
Blue sky, white cloud and early autumn wind over the Canal, London, York St.
Blue sky, white cloud and early autumn wind over the Canal, London, York St.
September 15, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Who doesn't like a September dramatic sky?
Blue sky, white cloud and early autumn wind over the Canal, London, York St.
Blue sky, white cloud and early autumn wind over the Canal, London, York St.
In my latest piece, I spoke with Ethiopian doctors who went on strike – many of whom were arrested – over pay and working conditions earlier this year. The strikes were suspended to give the government a chance, but they could resume this month.
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
www.aljazeera.com
September 2, 2025 at 7:03 PM
In my latest piece, I spoke with Ethiopian doctors who went on strike – many of whom were arrested – over pay and working conditions earlier this year. The strikes were suspended to give the government a chance, but they could resume this month.
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
Reposted by Faisal
Hundreds of workers in Ghana have been protesting on the streets of the capital, demanding the cancellation of Africa's growing debt...
rfi.my/BxzT.BS
rfi.my/BxzT.BS
Pan-African protestors gather in Ghana to demand cancellation of Africa's debt
Hundreds of workers in Ghana have been protesting on the streets of the capital, demanding the cancellation of Africa's ballooning debt.
rfi.my
August 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Hundreds of workers in Ghana have been protesting on the streets of the capital, demanding the cancellation of Africa's growing debt...
rfi.my/BxzT.BS
rfi.my/BxzT.BS
Reposted by Faisal
Alex and I wanted to craft our research philosophy, and, according to Alex, Mila was the best person to lead the project. The final philosophy was more like a manifesto with 7 principles. You can read it at www.dair-institute.org/research-phi....
Research Philosophy
Our research is intended to benefit communities which are typically not served by AI.
www.dair-institute.org
August 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Alex and I wanted to craft our research philosophy, and, according to Alex, Mila was the best person to lead the project. The final philosophy was more like a manifesto with 7 principles. You can read it at www.dair-institute.org/research-phi....
This week's east Africa newsletter is up.
This week: we spoke to Afyare Elmi on the state of the nation (not good); the body of a Somali woman found in London; US likely holding its line on Somaliland; Minnesota Democrats drop Omar Fateh, & more.
www.geeskanewsletter.com/p/somalias-t...
This week: we spoke to Afyare Elmi on the state of the nation (not good); the body of a Somali woman found in London; US likely holding its line on Somaliland; Minnesota Democrats drop Omar Fateh, & more.
www.geeskanewsletter.com/p/somalias-t...
Somalia’s third republic could end if things don’t change, warns Afyare Elmi
Issue #11: All of Somalia’s former living presidents also united to condemn the alleged misuse and sale of public land by the government.
www.geeskanewsletter.com
August 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
This week's east Africa newsletter is up.
This week: we spoke to Afyare Elmi on the state of the nation (not good); the body of a Somali woman found in London; US likely holding its line on Somaliland; Minnesota Democrats drop Omar Fateh, & more.
www.geeskanewsletter.com/p/somalias-t...
This week: we spoke to Afyare Elmi on the state of the nation (not good); the body of a Somali woman found in London; US likely holding its line on Somaliland; Minnesota Democrats drop Omar Fateh, & more.
www.geeskanewsletter.com/p/somalias-t...
"Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000
www.theguardian.com
August 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
"Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare."
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...
Reposted by Faisal
Autocrats without borders -- my latest in this week's @economist.com, with reporting from Uganda.
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
Are east African governments colluding to stifle dissent?
A raft of recent cases raises a disturbing suspicion
www.economist.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Autocrats without borders -- my latest in this week's @economist.com, with reporting from Uganda.
www.economist.com/middle-east-...
www.economist.com/middle-east-...