The Horn

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 powers fueling it. They revisit the atrocities committed during the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) ta...

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 regime. They explore how Asmara views Ethiopia’s push for sea access and why Eritrean officials fear an a...

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 Liberation Front’s latest offensive against the federal government, its new alliance with other oppos...

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 Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and the risk of an all-out war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They...

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 Sudanese navy patrolling the Red Sea. They then discuss the situation in El Obeid, under sustained RSF aeri...

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, which ended the devastating 2020–2022 war between Tigrayan rebels and the federal government, faile...

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 the past decade, examining the impact of Gulf rivalries, the war in Sudan, tensions in Yemen, and th...

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 negotiations and the U.S.-Israel war on Iran are contributing to the latest escalation, and how Houthi at...

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 episode of The Horn , Alan is joined by Samira Gaid, founder and senior analyst at the Mogadishu-based th...

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 whether such mediation is still possible today.  In this episode of The Horn , Alan is joined again by...

In this episode of The Horn , Alan speaks with Payton Knopf about the rising risk of renewed war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 scramble that has reshaped it since the turn of the millennium, as Gulf states, Türkiye and other middle...

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 Africa. They discuss HD’s discreet work facilitating dialogue between conflict parties, and why the Horn’s...

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 over the succession to President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has ruled the country for nearly three decades....

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 order, as the U.S. becomes more withdrawn and European capitals hesitate to act decisively. They assess h...

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 expire on 15 May, and why this latest dispute could prove more fateful than previous election crises. They...

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 approaches its fourth year. They examine shifts along the front lines as Sudan’s de facto partition un...

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 closure of the Strait of Hormuz could mean for economies across the region. They discuss how the new Midd...

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 are rooted primarily in domestic politics, even as they are increasingly shaped and intensified by outs...

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 driving it. They examine where tensions have emerged most sharply, including in Yemen and Sudan, and what the...

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 how political divisions in Tigray and Ethiopia’s push for Red Sea access are sharpening fault lines be...

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 today. They discuss why Israel moved to recognise Somaliland, how the decision links to Red Sea securi...

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 trace Museveni’s rise and unpack how he stabilised Uganda and managed to sustain his rule through patronag...

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 rising tensions in the Horn of Africa, and the risk of a new Gulf crisis. Alan then turns to Omar and...

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 security situation in Tigray, Ethiopia’s push for sea access, and Eritrea’s deep-seated existential security...