The Horn
by International Crisis Group
The Horn of Africa is in turmoil. From revolution in Sudan to civil war in Ethiopia, from Somalia’s political stalemate and the regional spread of jihadism to troubled East African democracies, the region’s pace and scale of change are difficult to keep up with. The Horn, a podcast series from the International Crisis Group, helps make sense of it all. Host Alan Boswell and guests dive deep behind the headlines as they analyse events, debate diplomacy and discuss avenues toward peace. Hosted by Alan Boswell and produced by Maeve Frances
Episodes
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Bonus Episode | The UAE in Sudan
Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael and Horn of Africa Director Alan Boswell about Sudan’s war and the foreign...
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The View from Eritrea
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Reuters journalist Giulia Paravicini to discuss her recent visit to Asmara, Eritrea’s capital. They talk about everyday life in one of the world’s most isolated countries, Giulia’s conversations with Eritrean officials and the future of the aging...
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Ethiopia and Eritrea, On the Cusp of War
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Michael Woldemariam, associate professor at the University of Maryland, to discuss the conflict in northern Ethiopia and whether it could escalate into a wider war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They examine the calculations behind the Tigray People’s...
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Bonus Episode | How Close Are Ethiopia and Eritrea to All-out War?
Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on the rising risk of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Alan Boswell, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa director, to discuss the fighting in...
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Inside Sudan’s War
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’s Africa correspondent and winner of the RTS Network Television Journalist of the Year award 2026, to discuss her reporting from inside Sudan’s war and its various front lines. They discuss her recent reporting with the...
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Bonus Episode | Back to War in Ethiopia?
Today on The Horn, we are bringing you a bonus episode on Ethiopia from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode, Richard Atwood speaks with Crisis Group’s Africa director Murithi Mutiga about renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia. They examine why the Pretoria agreement,...
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Bonus Episode | Two Shores, One Sea: The Horn of Africa and West Asia in a Contested Red Sea
Today we're sharing a bonus episode from the WASSAP podcast, where Alan joins hosts Désirée Custers and Hubert Kinkoh to explore the growing interconnectedness of the Horn of Africa, the Gulf, and the wider Red Sea region. The conversation traces how Gulf engagement in the Horn has evolved over…
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The Houthis, the Saudis and the New Red Sea Politics
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Crisis Group’s Arabian Peninsula director Yasmine Farouk and senior Yemen analyst Ahmed Nagi to explore why Yemen’s truce is unravelling and what renewed fighting means for the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. They examine how stalled Saudi-Houthi...
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Somalia’s End-of-year Cliffhanger
This week on The Horn, Alan talks with Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based think tank Balqiis, about the possible end of UNSOS, the UN logistics operation supporting African Union troops and Somali government forces fighting Al-Shabaab and what may come next. In this...
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Sudan’s Separation Fifteen Years Ago and Today’s Disaster
This week on The Horn, Alan speaks with Alex de Waal and Abdul Mohammed, former senior officials for the African Union’s mediation team, on how the split between Sudan and South Sudan fifteen years ago led to two failed states, the high-level diplomacy at the time to prevent all-out war, and...
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Is Ethiopia Sliding Toward a New Tigray War?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan speaks with Payton Knopf about the rising risk of renewed war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
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The Scramble for the Red Sea Is Not Cooling Down
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by scholar Federico Donelli, author of the recent book Power Competition in the Red Sea, to assess the shifting geopolitics of the Red Sea region. They trace the region’s long history as an arena for great-power competition before turning to the new...
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Mediating the Horn’s Wars: An Exit Interview
In this episode of The Horn, Alan speaks with Babatunde Afolabi, former Africa Director at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), now Director of Political Affairs at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, about mediation and conflict resolution in the Horn of...
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Tiny Djibouti, and Its Prime Real Estate
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by scholar and author Samson Abebe Bezabeh, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, to discuss Djibouti’s domestic politics and shifting role in a turbulent region. They explore Djibouti’s history, its internal political dynamics and uncertainty…
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Sudan, and a Region and World in Upheaval
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by journalist and author Nesrine Malik. They take stock of Sudan’s war after more than three years of fighting and consider where the conflict might be headed. They discuss what the wars in Sudan and Gaza reveal about the collapse of the rules-based...
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Somalia’s Election Standoff and New Inflection Point
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Omar Mahmood, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Somalia and the Horn of Africa, to discuss the deeper implications of Somalia’s new election crisis. They discuss the looming electoral standoff as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term is set to…
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Bonus Episode: After Three Years of War in Sudan, What Hope for a Ceasefire?
Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael and Horn of Africa director Alan Boswell to discuss where Sudan’s war stands as it...
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How the Iran War is Reshaping the Region
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Hafsa Halawa, an independent political analyst and mediation specialist, to discuss the fallout of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran in the Horn of Africa. They examine the immediate disruptions to fuel, fertiliser and shipping, and what a prolonged...
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What’s Really Going on in the Horn?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Moses Chrispus Okello, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Security Studies, to unpack the common forces driving instability across the Horn of Africa and where the region might be headed. They discuss how today’s crises across the Horn of Africa…
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Behind the Saudi-Emirati Rift
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by H. A. Hellyer, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, to explore what’s behind the rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the competing visions of regional order…
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Bonus Episode: Will Ethiopia and Eritrea Start a Regional War?
Today we're bringing you a bonus from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group Africa director Murithi Mutiga about rising Ethiopia–Eritrea tensions and the growing risk of another war in the Horn of Africa. They discuss…
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Israel, Somaliland and the Horn
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Asher Lubotzky, senior research fellow at the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, to discuss Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and its interests in the Horn of Africa. They trace the history of Israel’s involvement in the region and its relationships...
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Uganda after Museveni
In this episode of The Horn, Alan speaks with Kristof Titeca, professor at the Institute of Development Policy at the University of Antwerp, to talk about Uganda’s post-election landscape and the question of who might succeed President Yoweri Museveni after nearly four decades in power. They…
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The Rupture in the Gulf, and its Fallout
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Crisis Group experts Yasmine Farouk, Omar Mahmood and Shewit Woldemichael. He first speaks with Yasmine about what is behind the new public rupture between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen, how this links to diverging strategies and...
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The Ethiopia-Eritrea Standoff
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Michael Woldemariam, associate professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, to unpack the escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They examine how these dynamics are intertwined with the fragmenting political and...
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Bonus Episode: Reflecting on Sudan’s Collapse and Elusive Peace
This week on The Horn, we post a recent discussion between Crisis Group’s CEO and President, Comfort Ero, and leading expert Alex de Waal, about ongoing efforts to bring Sudan’s war to an end. In this bonus episode of The Horn, Alan brings listeners a special episode from a panel on Sudan’s war...
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Global Disorder, Horn of Africa Turmoil. Can Europe Keep Up?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Heiko Nitzschke, Germany’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, to discuss whether and how Europe needs to adapt its approach towards the Horn of Africa. While Europe used to act in relative sync with the U.S. in Africa, this is increasingly less…
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The El Fasher Atrocities
In this episode of The Horn, Alan speaks with Julia Steers, investigations editor at Lighthouse Reports, about the large-scale atrocities that took place in Darfur’s El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city from Sudan’s army last month. They retrace how the...
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Mediators’ Brave New World
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Timur Söylemez, former ambassador and former head of the mediation unit at Türkiye’s foreign ministry, to discuss the evolving landscape of conflict mediation and Ankara’s approach in the Horn of Africa and beyond. They unpack the headwinds facing...
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Bonus Episode: What Does the RSF’s Seizure of El Fasher Mean for Sudan’s War?
Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on the fall of El Fasher in Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this update episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael and Horn director Alan Boswell about the paramilitary RSF...
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The Trial of South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Edmund Yakani, executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, to discuss the trial of South Sudan’s first vice president and former rebel leader Riek Machar. They trace Machar’s rise and how he became a central, polarising...
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Bonus Episode: Can a U.S.-Arab Roadmap Stop Sudan’s War?
Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard talks with Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael, Horn of Africa director Alan Boswell and Gulf & Arabian Peninsula director Yasmine Farouk...
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Ethiopia’s Grand and Contested Dam
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Crisis Group’s Africa Program Director, Murithi Mutiga, to discuss the inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam. They trace the project’s development during a tumultuous period for the region and...
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Dr. Comfort Ero on the Future of Peacemaking
In this episode of The Horn, marking Crisis Group’s 30th anniversary, Alan Boswell speaks with president & CEO Comfort Ero about how the landscape of peacemaking has evolved since the organisation’s founding in 1995. They trace how the environment for conflict resolution has shifted from the...
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Peacekeeping is Dying. Long Live Peacekeeping?
This week on The Horn, Alan Boswell sits down with Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based think tank Balqiis Insights, and Fred Bauma, human rights advocate and executive secretary at the Ebuteli research institute in Kinshasa, to unpack the uncertain future of…
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What Does Sudan’s RSF Want?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by analyst and researcher Sarra Majdoub to take a closer look at Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their evolving military and political objectives. They discuss the RSF’s recent loss of control in Khartoum to the Sudanese Armed…
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Bonus Episode: The DR Congo-Rwanda Deal, Trump’s Mediation and African Politics
Today, we're bringing you a bonus episode on the DR Congo-Rwanda peace deal and U.S. engagement in Africa from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Murithi Mutiga, Crisis Group’s Africa program director, to discuss the DR...
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Somaliland’s Moment?
This week on The Horn, Alan is joined by Guleid Ahmed Jama, a Hargeisa-based lawyer and political commentator, to discuss Somaliland’s push for recognition. They revisit Somaliland’s decision to declare independence from Somalia in 1991 and trace how Hargeisa’s relations with Mogadishu have…
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As South Sudan Quakes, an Heir Apparent Rises
This week on The Horn, Alan speaks with Daniel Akech, Crisis Group’s senior analyst for South Sudan, about the deepening political crisis in South Sudan and looming questions about President Salva Kiir’s succession. They trace Kiir’s rise from military commander to president following South…
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The New Scramble for Peace (and Minerals) in DR Congo
In this episode of The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Richard Moncrieff, Crisis Group’s Great Lakes project director, to discuss the state of the war in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They discuss the extent of the Rwanda-backed M23’s territorial gains in eastern Congo and why the...
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Any Hope Left for Diplomacy in Sudan?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Abdul Mohammed, who has worked on Sudan for many years, including as a senior official in the UN and African Union. They discuss the risks of a de facto partition of the country as both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support...
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Sudan’s Two Years of Hell
In this episode of The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Sudanese civil society activist and political commentator Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem. They discuss her flight from Khartoum when war broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces two years ago, and the...
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A Region in Spiral, a World in Tumult
In this episode of The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Annette Weber, the European Union’s Special Representative for the Horn of Africa. They discuss how the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency have affected the region and whether the EU and other regional actors can step in to fill the...
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Bonus Episode: South Sudan on the Brink of Another War
Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on South Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa director Alan Boswell and South Sudan expert Daniel Akesh to discuss the escalating violence in South...
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Which Way Will Trump Go on Somalia?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Omar Mahmood, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for Somalia and the Horn of Africa to discuss Somalia’s uncertain new global context with the dawn of a new Trump administration. They first unpack the recent Ankara declaration between Somalia and Ethiopia...
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Ethiopia and Eritrea, On a Collision Course
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Michael Woldemariam, associate professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, to discuss the risk of renewed war between Ethiopia and Eritrea amid rising regional tensions and a deepening political crisis in Tigray. They explore…
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The Aid System is Collapsing. Now What?
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive Officer of ODI Global, to discuss the Trump administration’s sudden halting of most foreign aid amid a trend of broader cuts to foreign aid by Western governments. They examine whether the abrupt funding freeze for...
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Bonus Episode: A Decisive Turn in Sudan’s War?
Today we're bringing you a bonus episode on Sudan from Crisis Group's Global Podcast Hold Your Fire!. In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood is joined by Crisis Group’s Sudan expert Shewit Woldemichael and Horn of Africa director Alan Boswell, to discuss the Sudanese army’s military...
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Trump’s Aid Cuts and What Africa Should Expect Next
In this episode of The Horn, Alan is joined by Joshua Meservey, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s Africa policy. They examine the Trump administration’s recent freeze on foreign aid, its push to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development...
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The Race for AU Chair: Power, Politics, and Influence
In this episode of The Horn, guest host Nazanine Moshiri is joined by Liesl Louw-Vaudran, Crisis Group’s Senior Advisor to the African Union (AU), to talk about the upcoming elections for the AU Commission Chairperson. They unpack the chair’s mandate, the challenges faced by the current...
About this show
The Horn of Africa is in turmoil. From revolution in Sudan to civil war in Ethiopia, from Somalia’s political stalemate and the regional spread of jihadism to troubled East African democracies, the region’s pace and scale of change are difficult to keep up with. The Horn, a podcast series from the International Crisis Group, helps make sense of it all. Host Alan Boswell and guests dive deep behind the headlines as they analyse events, debate diplomacy and discuss avenues toward peace. Hosted by Alan Boswell and produced by Maeve Frances
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International Crisis Group
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