Somalia

The sand doodler who conquered her Somali Islamic critics

Nujuum Hashi, who has overcome traditional prejudice to become a respected artist in Somalia, decided on her career as she drew pictures in the sand as a seven-year-old in the capital, Mogadishu. Her family had no fixed abode as this

Why a Somali-born fighter is being honoured in Rome

Rome's city council voted earlier this month to name a future metro station in the Italian capital in honour of Giorgio Marincola, an Italian-Somali who was a member of the Italian resistance. He was killed at the age of 21 by

Mohamed Moalimu: ‘How I survived my fourth siege’

Former BBC reporter Mohamed Moalimu survived Sunday's siege on a beachfront hotel in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu - the fourth time he has been caught up in an attack by Islamist al-Shabab militants over the last seven years. Moalimu,

Ifrah Ahmed: From powerless victim to powerful role model

As unrest broke out in 2006 in countries neighbouring Somalia, and threatened by the prospect of an arranged marriage, Ifrah Ahmed, who was aged 17 at the time, fled to Ethiopia and secured a ticket to fly out of the country. She found