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Somalia is often described as the world's most dangerous country, the quintessential failed state. It has had no effective central government for more than two decades, and is affected by conflict, drought, piracy and famine. The BBC's Africa Editor Mary Harper has a special interest in Somalia. Today she found out something new: I was somewhat taken aback when I opened my Facebook page this Valentine's Day morning. I discovered it was the birthday of 30 of my Somali Facebook friends. It reminded me of New Year's Day when 279 of my Somali Facebook friends had their birthdays. True, I have a lot of Somali friends on Facebook - but those numbers are extraordinary. Or maybe not. Many Somalis don't know when their real birthdays are. They have after all lived through more than two decades of war. Records have been destroyed and there is currently no functioning administration. Even before conflict tore their country apart, most Somalis were nomads, and their cult...

GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON THE TERRORIST ATTACK OF 30 TH DECEMBER, 2014 On Tuesday, 30 th December, 2014, at 2am GMT, the State House was attacked by a well-equipped, well-funded group of Gambian terrorists living in the U.S.A., U.K., Germany and Senegal with support from their collaborators abroad with sophisticated automatic machine guns and assault rifles. Five of these attackers launched their assault from the main gate of the State House by the Albert Market while the three others attempted to enter through the rear gate by Marina Parade. The leader of the attackers was Lamin Sanneh (codename ‘Gibia’), a former Lieutenant Colonel of the Gambia Armed Forces and former Commander of the State Guards Battalion who was dismissed from the GAF and fled to Senegal and then to the U.S. He was accompanied by Njaga Jagne (codename ‘Bandit’), a retired Captain of the US Army; Baboucarr Lowe, a former Warrant Officer Class 2 of the Gambia Armed Forces referred to as ‘Bai Lo’ who was wanted in co...

  Books for Peace One of the most magical weeks of my life was the one I spent at the Hargeisa International Book Fair in July 2012. Like many things in Somaliland, I found it delightful, surprising and inspiring, a bit like opening a box of secret treasures. I have chosen to write about the book fair because, in many ways, it represents in microcosm many of the good things about Somaliland. It also shows how challenges can be overcome because the very idea of holding such an event in Somaliland requires courage, imagination and determination. When I wrote a blog post about the fair, a journalist from a respected international publication asked if I was joking, if I had made the whole thing up. For many outsiders, the idea of a book fair on Somali territory is impossible to imagine because for them the word ‘Somali’ is associated with piracy, terrorism, war and famine. Somaliland suffers from a similar image problem; most people don’t know it exists, and have no idea that it is rel...

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Here is a piece I did for the BBC about my communications with the Somali Islamist group, Al Shabaab. You can read my report for BBC Online by clicking  here . And you can listen to my piece for BBC From Our Own Correspondent by clicking  here . Here is the script for my report: Speaking to Al Shabaab The other morning I woke up to a text message and missed call from Al Shabaab.   As always, the message was written in perfect English. It informed me about a film Al Shabaab have made called Beyond the Shadows which, it said, gave an ‘accurate portrayal’ of what happened when French commandoes last year tried – and failed – to rescue a suspected French intelligence agent held hostage by the group. I watched the film. Like some of the other material made by Al Shabaab's media arm, Al Kataib Foundation, it was slickly produced. It was like a cross between a video game and a war movie, and was full of suspense. It showed a drone hovering in the air, emblazoned with the words ...

Debate - WSDC - Drones are a Legitimate Tool of Foreign Policy - Canada vs. South Africa - WSDC 2014 Semifinal from Alfred Snider on Vimeo . THBT drones are a legitimate tool of foreign policy. Proposition - Canada Opposition - South Africa Semifinal debate, held at Anglo Singapore International School, Bangkok. This video was made at the 2014 WSDC that took place in Thailand in August 2014. The video was produced in cooperation with World Schools Debating Championship Thailand 2014, the World Debate Institute, and the Debate Central website (http://debate.uvm.edu ) founded in 1994. DEBATE CENTRAL is a non-profit service of the World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/wdi/ , the Lawrence Debate Union http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/LDU/ and the University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu/ , and is designed to promote debating at all levels, in all languages, and all around the world. Our server is provided by the University of Vermont. The System Operator is Alfre...

Debate - WSDC - ASEAN Political Union is an Impossible Dream - South Africa vs. England - WSDC 2014 Finals from Alfred Snider on Vimeo . This House Believes that an ASEAN political union is an impossible dream. Final Round, at United Nations Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand. South Africa - Proposition England - Opposition The decision of the judges is at the end of the video. This video was made at the 2014 WSDC that took place in Thailand in August 2014. The video was produced in cooperation with World Schools Debating Championship Thailand 2014, the World Debate Institute, and the Debate Central website (http://debate.uvm.edu ) founded in 1994. DEBATE CENTRAL is a non-profit service of the World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/wdi/ , the Lawrence Debate Union http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/LDU/ and the University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu/ , and is designed to promote debating at all levels, in all languages, and all around the world. Our server i...