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Sierra Leone’s Ambitious Push for Rice Independence
In Sierra Leone, rice holds a cultural significance that borders on the sacred. It’s a staple so vital that meals without it are often dismissed as incomplete. Yet, as prices surge, many families are forced to make agonizing trade-offs, giving up other essentials just to afford a plate of rice.
This struggle is emblematic of a deeper crisis. The United Nations’ World Food Program reports that 83% of Sierra Leone’s population is food insecure, a reality exacerbated by the nation’s heavy reliance on rice imports. This dependency, which supplies 35% of Sierra Leone’s rice and drains $200 million annually in foreign currency, has become a flashpoint for government intervention.
President Julius Bio and Agriculture Minister Henry Kpaka Musa have unveiled a sweeping vision to achieve rice self-sufficiency, raising over $620 million from international development banks this year to kickstart the initiative. The plan aims to modernize agriculture by improving roads to connect rice-growing regions with markets, creating large-scale irrigated land, and providing fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides to smallholder farmers.
“This is about laying the foundation,” Kpaka said. “Infrastructure is the key to attracting private sector investment and incentivizing farmers to grow more.”
The initiative has garnered praise from experts, with the Ivory Coast-based Africa Rice research center calling it “ambitious and forward-looking.” However, critics warn of potential pitfalls, pointing to failed attempts at food self-sufficiency in other West African nations such as Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Sierra Leone’s dependency on imports has roots in structural shifts dating back decades. In the 1980s, international lenders, including the International Monetary Fund, pushed the country to reduce agricultural investment in favor of opening markets to cheaper imports, according to Kpaka.
“We used to export rice,” the minister lamented. “Now we import it.”
Despite having one of the region’s most favorable climates for rice cultivation, with abundant rainfall and fertile lands, Sierra Leone has struggled with challenges such as inadequate roads, unreliable electricity, and limited access to financing for farmers. Climate change has further complicated efforts, with erratic weather patterns threatening yields.
In Bo district, a key rice-growing region, smallholder farmers gathered to share their concerns. Among the challenges they cited were a lack of access to land, storage facilities, and modern tools. But one issue stood out: the shortage of labor.
The rural-to-urban migration of young people seeking jobs in cities has left farming communities struggling to find workers. For those who remain, clearing vegetation and digging irrigation channels is backbreaking work.
“Without labor, the fields remain uncultivated,” said Eric Amara Manyeh, a village chief and farmer. While some farmers have formed cooperatives to share labor, progress is slow and costly.
The skepticism among smallholders is palpable. Many feel sidelined by government programs they see as favoring large-scale agribusiness over the needs of the country’s 5 million smallholder farms, which account for 70% of the population.
“We’ve heard these promises before,” Manyeh said, gesturing toward an uncultivated swamp that could one day become part of the government’s grand plan.
Central to the government’s strategy is replicating elements of Asia’s Green Revolution, which doubled rice production in two decades through the use of chemical fertilizers, modern seeds, and pesticides.
But critics warn that this approach could deepen farmers’ dependence on international agribusiness giants. Hybrid seeds, for instance, must be purchased anew each year, as they are patented and cannot be replanted. Fertilizers and pesticides, often imported from Europe and North America, come with high costs and environmental concerns.
Klara Fischer, a rural development professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, cautioned that Sierra Leone’s context differs sharply from Asia’s. “Cheap family labor was abundant in Asia during the Green Revolution. That’s not the case in Sierra Leone, where rural exodus is a major issue,” she said.
Environmental advocates like Joseph Randall, director of the NGO Green Scenery, argue that the government should focus on empowering smallholder farmers through sustainable practices. Randall advocates for organic compost as an alternative to chemical fertilizers, which he says contribute to global warming and leave farmers vulnerable to debt.
“It’s not just about increasing yields,” Randall said. “It’s about creating a system that’s resilient and works for the farmers themselves.”
Kpaka remains optimistic, insisting that investments in critical infrastructure will unlock the country’s agricultural potential. Improved roads, he believes, will connect farmers to markets and transform subsistence farming into a profitable enterprise.
But on the ground, farmers like Manyeh temper their hope with caution. “The willingness is there, the potential is there,” he said, as thunder rolled over his rice fields. “But it takes more than potential to feed a nation.”
Sierra Leone’s path to rice self-sufficiency is fraught with challenges, from the logistical to the systemic. Yet, the stakes could not be higher. For a nation where rice is more than a meal—it’s a way of life—achieving independence in its production could redefine not just agriculture, but Sierra Leone’s sense of sovereignty and resilience.
Leaked reports reveal Chinese security companies expanding across Africa unchecked, fueling fears of future proxy wars and growing CCP influence.
From left Somalia Ambassador to China Drs Hodan Osman –
China’s Private Armies Expanding Across Africa Without Control
Africa is under silent siege — not by armies in uniform, but by private Chinese guns operating in the shadows.
A leaked report reveals that Chinese “private security companies” (PSCs) are expanding rapidly across Africa, operating in a dangerous legal gray zone, without international oversight, and with direct ties to Beijing’s military apparatus.
Despite the name, these PSCs are anything but private.
They are packed with ex-PLA and People’s Armed Police operatives — soldiers of the Chinese Communist Party under corporate cover.
Their mission: to protect Beijing’s $50 billion Belt and Road investments and quietly entrench Chinese control without ever raising a national flag.
Between 2007 and 2020, China poured $23 billion into African infrastructure. Now, wherever these projects rise, PSC forces follow — shielding mines, ports, railroads, and political assets with a private army Beijing can deny owning.
Analysts warn the PSCs are fast blurring the line into private military companies (PMCs) — the same kind of shadow forces that destabilized countries like Libya and Sudan.
Already, Chinese contractors have been caught involved in armed operations in Sudan’s civil war zones and South Sudan’s conflict corridors.
Weapons bans under Chinese law are a joke.
The PSCs simply hire local militias, fueling tribal conflicts and corrupting fragile states — a tactic that security experts call “taking sides with guns and money.”
Shootouts involving Chinese security contractors have already erupted in Eastern Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — a glimpse into a darker future where Beijing’s shadow armies spark wars it never officially fights.
Human rights abuses, sovereignty violations, and violent incidents are now ticking time bombs across the continent.
As China’s hidden legions grow, Africa faces a chilling question:
Who really controls the land, the roads, the resources — and the guns?
Somalia Ambassador to China Drs Hodan Osman
Trump’s Approval Craters Among American Jews Despite Hardline Antisemitism Push. Orthodox Jews remain a key base of support.
Donald Trump may champion himself as the strongest defender of Jewish interests in U.S. politics, but American Jews aren’t buying it. A damning new survey reveals that a whopping 72% of Jewish voters disapprove of his presidency, including 67% who strongly disapprove. And while Trump has made headlines cracking down on antisemitism, 56% of Jewish voters say his policies miss the mark.
The Jewish Electorate Institute’s poll, conducted by the Mellman Group, lays bare a deeper reality: American Jews — except for a vocal Orthodox minority — overwhelmingly distrust Trump’s motives and methods. The Orthodox community, representing about 10% of respondents, offered a stark contrast: over 70% support Trump, seeing his actions as pro-Israel and tough on antisemitism.
But Reform, Conservative, and unaffiliated Jews — the vast majority — are unimpressed. From freezing university funds to deporting foreign student activists, Trump’s “war on antisemitism” is seen by many as a political weapon rather than a genuine stand against hate.
His authoritarian leanings haven’t helped. More than 70% of American Jews oppose his controversial executive orders allowing deportations without court hearings, and most reject his sweeping tariffs and attacks on government institutions. The numbers suggest a Jewish electorate deeply alarmed not only by Trump’s rhetoric but by his policies across the board.
Notably absent from the poll were questions about Trump’s Middle East maneuverings — including his aggressive stance on Iran and radical proposals for Gaza. That silence may have spared him even lower marks, especially among younger Jews who disapprove of his handling of antisemitism by more than 50%.
In 2025, Trump faces a sobering reality: while Orthodox Jews remain his loyal base, he has alienated most of the broader Jewish community. His strategy may win applause in right-wing circles, but the numbers make clear — it’s not winning Jewish hearts.
Ankara secures 90% of Somalia’s oil and gas profits in landmark deal, sparking fears of energy colonialism under the guise of partnership.
Turkey’s new hydrocarbons deal with Somalia grants it 90% of all oil and gas output with zero upfront costs, raising questions about sovereignty, exploitation, and geopolitical consequences in the Horn of Africa.
Turkey didn’t just strike oil in Somalia — it struck gold. In a sweeping hydrocarbons agreement now before the Turkish Parliament, Ankara has secured 90% of Somalia’s oil and gas output, full export rights, zero upfront costs, and even the legal turf of arbitration on its own soil. Welcome to the 21st-century blueprint of “soft conquest” — wrapped in partnership, sealed with military escorts.
Somalia, teetering between internal fragility and global neglect, has offered up its vast offshore reserves to Turkey on terms that defy global industry norms. No signature bonuses. No surface fees. Only 5% royalties capped for Somalia, and Turkish corporations get to walk away with the lion’s share — free to export, sell, and profit without local interference.
This isn’t partnership. It’s a power grab masquerading as cooperation.
Text of the hydrocarbon agreement between Turkey and Somalia.
Worse still, Turkey can assign its rights to any foreign third party without even opening a local office — a clause that opens the door for opaque subcontracts and external interference in Somalia’s maritime zones. Turkish warships, under the pretext of anti-piracy missions, will escort deep-sea drill ships come September. But what they’re really guarding is Ankara’s geopolitical gamble — a stranglehold on East Africa’s most lucrative energy basin.
The optics are troubling. Somalia’s government, seeking legitimacy and allies, is locking itself into a long-term dependency that gives away critical sovereignty in exchange for vague promises of training and defense aid. If oil is supposed to be Somalia’s path to self-reliance, this deal builds a highway — but Turkey is behind the wheel.
As the global energy chessboard tilts eastward, Somalia risks being reduced to a pawn — or worse, a client state. The message to Mogadishu’s elites is clear: either rewrite this deal, or history will.
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A Somali refugee is gunned down in broad daylight—and Australia’s justice system may never answer why. The fatal police shooting of a Somali refugee in Melbourne has ignited protests and exposed deep failures in Australia’s treatment of refugees, race, and mental health.
Footscray protesters held signs with Mr Ahmed’s face on them that read ‘Abdifatah needed support, not bullets’ after police shot dead 35-year-old Abdifatah Ahmed. Picture: Jake Nowakowski / NewsWire
Abdifatah Ahmed did not need a bullet. He needed help. He needed a system that could see his pain and respond with dignity. Instead, he was killed—shot dead by police on the streets of Melbourne in what is quickly becoming a symbol of everything broken in Australia’s treatment of African refugees and people suffering mental health crises.
Victoria Police claim their officers had “seconds to act” when Ahmed, reportedly armed with a knife, failed to comply. But witnesses and community leaders are asking a different question: Why was lethal force the only option? Why, in one of Australia’s most policed cities, was this man met with guns and not compassion?
This isn’t an isolated tragedy—it’s a pattern. Ahmed was a Somali refugee, known to be homeless, struggling with mental illness, and failed by every system meant to protect him. When the call came in, two officers arrived without Tasers. They responded with bullets.
Victoria Police has been forced to defend two officers against allegations of racial profiling as hundreds of protesters gather at the scene of a fatal police shooting in Footscray, protesting the death of Somali refugee Abdifatah Ahmed. Picture: Jake Nowakowski / NewsWire
To the Somali and African communities of Melbourne, this wasn’t just another incident—it was the final, unbearable insult. Hundreds took to the streets chanting “Mental Health Needs Care, Not Bullets.” Some clashed with police. Others lit candles. All of them demanded accountability.
Ahmed’s death has shredded what little trust remained. It has exposed a policing culture where racialized trauma meets a trigger finger—and where leadership too often doubles down rather than listens. The official response? “We reject any claims that this was racially motivated.” That’s it.
Meanwhile, the City of Maribyrnong says it supports an “independent review.” Too little, too late.
This shooting happened days after police rolled out “increased patrols” in the area to “tackle antisocial behaviour.” For many, that announcement felt like a threat, not protection. And now a young man is dead.
Australia says it’s a country of fairness and opportunity. Abdifatah Ahmed came seeking exactly that. He died as yet another victim of a system that saw his skin color before his humanity.
When the state is the aggressor, justice cannot wait. Demand answers. Demand change.
Somalia’s own soldiers are assassinating their commanders, selling Somalia’s energy blocks to the highest bidder. Somalia now faces its most dangerous turning point since 1991. Al-Shabaab is raising flags in major towns while the Somali government sinks deeper into chaos, selling off resources and scapegoating enemies.
Is the capital next?
Somalia isn’t slipping. It’s spiraling. The once fragile federal experiment is now visibly shattering—under the weight of incompetence, corruption, and political betrayal.
Mogadishu’s leadership, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, is flailing at the helm. Al-Shabaab grows bolder by the day, releasing prisoners, raising flags, and walking through military bases unchallenged. In a horrifying echo of Afghanistan, Somalia’s own soldiers are assassinating their commanders, and U.S. diplomats are being evacuated. Even the president himself narrowly escaped an ambush. This is no longer counterinsurgency. This is collapse management.
Desperate for Western attention, Hassan Sheikh has chosen a tactic that reeks of neo-colonial pandering: selling Somalia’s energy blocks to the highest bidder, offering the country’s last resources to Trump-linked interests in the hope of buying security. His ambassador’s bizarre social media auction of Somalia’s oil was less diplomacy than a digital clearance sale of a broken state. The response? Silence in Washington. Chaos in the capital.
Meanwhile, Turkish boots are on Somali soil, drones fly overhead, and the African Union’s peacekeepers are now smeared as al-Shabaab sympathizers by Somali officials trying to dodge accountability. Puntland and Jubaland have already walked out of Hassan’s electoral circus. The remaining federal structure is now a skeleton of legitimacy—held together by the optics of registration drives and donor meetings.
And as al-Shabaab captures Aadan Yabaal—the president’s own hometown—Somalis wake up asking a question they hoped they’d never need to again: Can Mogadishu fall?
Somalia has failed at the elite level. Hassan’s government blames everyone—Egypt, Ethiopia, the AU, even UN diplomats—except itself. It ignores the internal rot, the patronage system, the militarized nepotism, and the utter lack of coherent national strategy.
The result? Al-Shabaab no longer hides. It governs. And the state no longer fights back. It tweets.
Quo vadis, Somalia?
Downward. Fast. Unless something radical, honest, and painfully overdue changes now.
Captured arms spark international uproar as Somalia accused of turning donor aid into tools of regional destabilization.
Somaliland accuses Somalia of sponsoring militia attacks after seizing weapons marked “Federal Government of Somalia.” Regional tensions flare as calls grow for international investigation.
Somaliland’s armed forces have intercepted a cache of military-grade weapons explicitly marked as belonging to the Somali Ministry of Defense. The discovery, made after a firefight in the Dhuurmadare area of eastern Sanaag on April 18, not only proves Somalia’s military fingerprints in the region—it redefines the nature of the conflict.
The wooden boxes didn’t lie: emblazoned with “MINISTRY OF DEFENSE ARMED FORCES – THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF SOMALIA”, and a formal contract number, they obliterate the fiction that Somalia’s arms are strictly used for counterterrorism. Instead, they now appear weaponized for political warfare—against Somaliland.
Somaliland’s Ministry of Defense wasted no time issuing a blistering rebuke, blaming Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre directly for orchestrating the attack, just days after his controversial visit to Las Anod. “This is not a rogue operation—it’s a state-sponsored proxy war,” the statement warned. For a government that boasts over 30 years of democratic stability, the incursion represents a red line.
And it raises uncomfortable questions for international donors.
The U.S., U.K., EU, and other Western allies have long funneled military aid to Somalia under the guise of fighting al-Shabaab—a group that now reportedly operates within striking distance of Mogadishu. But with donor-funded weapons showing up in anti-Somaliland insurgent hands, the credibility of that narrative is cracking.
Experts warn this could trigger a donor reckoning. “This is what happens when there’s no oversight,” one analyst told WARYATV. “Western taxpayers may be unknowingly funding attacks on a peaceful, democratic neighbor.”
Somaliland has called for an urgent international inquiry—and this time, the evidence speaks louder than diplomacy.
After years of entrenchment, ISIS-Somalia’s last major bastion crumbles under Puntland’s offensive.
Puntland’s latest offensive in the Calmiskaad Mountains isn’t just a military success—it’s a symbolic decapitation of ISIS-Somalia’s regional ambitions. By seizing Togga Miraale, the crown jewel of ISIS’s mountain redoubts, Puntland security forces have dismantled what analysts long described as the terror group’s last command node in the region. The caliphate fantasy is over, at least in Puntland.
This wasn’t a victory won overnight. The month-long campaign through treacherous terrain and entrenched positions was a surgical war of attrition. ISIS fighters, once emboldened by their remote stronghold and a steady supply of weapons, were ground down. With captured stockpiles and dislodged militants, Puntland has dealt ISIS a blow from which it may never recover in northeastern Somalia.
This is more than just a win for Puntland. It’s a pivotal shift in the asymmetric war against jihadist movements in the Horn. While Al-Shabaab remains a dominant threat further south, ISIS-Somalia’s collapse exposes the vulnerability of jihadist splinter factions when faced with sustained, locally-led counterterrorism backed by strategic intelligence.
Moreover, this win couldn’t come at a more geopolitically significant time. As Somalia reels from recent setbacks—including the fall of Aadan Yabaal to Al-Shabaab—Puntland’s success highlights a stark contrast in governance, security, and military capability. It sends a potent message: decentralized Somali regions like Puntland can, and will, defend their territory where the federal government has failed.
Regional players like the UAE and the U.S., both of whom quietly supported this operation with air surveillance and intel, are taking note. So should Mogadishu. As the Somali government continues to lose ground to terrorists in the south, Puntland’s battlefield dominance is not just a local triumph—it’s a rebuke of Somalia’s fragile security architecture.
The caliphate in Somalia didn’t fall with fanfare—it collapsed under the pressure of a region that refused to yield. Puntland now owns the victory. And ISIS-Somalia? It’s a name soon to be remembered only in past tense.
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Puntland Forces Strike Major Daesh Strongholds in Bari Region
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Trump rejects Netanyahu’s war plan, pushes for nuclear talks with Tehran — as Israeli frustration boils.
In a dramatic Oval Office split, Trump shut down a joint Israeli-US strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, triggering outrage in Jerusalem. Is diplomacy a delay tactic—or disaster in the making?
President Donald Trump may have just triggered the biggest rift in US-Israel defense cooperation since the Obama years. According to a bombshell NYT report, Trump personally blocked a fully coordinated Israeli strike package on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure—just weeks before it was set to launch. Israel was prepped. US CENTCOM was involved. Commando units were shelved in favor of all-out bombing runs. But in the final hour, Trump torpedoed the plan and launched direct talks with Tehran instead.
Sources say Netanyahu was blindsided. The visit to Washington, publicly framed around tariffs, quickly turned sour when Trump dropped the bombshell: no military support while diplomacy is on the table. Inside the Oval Office, the tension was visible. Outside, it was electric. Israeli officials saw betrayal. Netanyahu wanted a Libya-style disarmament. Trump? He’s chasing a legacy—an Iran deal to rival Obama’s failed JCPOA.
Back home, Israeli defense analysts are livid. “This was the moment,” one senior IDF figure told WARYATV. “We had operational superiority, regional support, and Iranian air defense already degraded. Now we’re talking again?” Meanwhile, Iran is stalling with a smile. The next round of nuclear talks resumes Saturday in Oman. Tehran already knows the game: negotiate, delay, enrich. By the time diplomacy fails, the uranium is already spinning.
Trump’s team is divided. Vance and Witkoff want to avoid war. Rubio and Waltz say it’s now or never. Meanwhile, Israel may be forced to go solo—and they’re watching those B-2s parked in Diego Garcia very closely.
What’s clear? This isn’t just another missed opportunity. It’s a high-stakes gamble that could reshape the Middle East—for better or for catastrophe.
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