De Facto recommends

From winding borders to straight lines and landlocked nations, Al Jazeera explores the stories behind Africa’s map. From Bir Tawil to Cabinda to the Caprivi strip: a visual explainer of some of the continent’s most unusual borders.

The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories exhibition, from 27 October 2024 to 26 January 2025 at Framer Framed, examines how storytelling, visual culture, architecture and social life (re)shape citizenship in Somaliland, the Somali region and its diaspora.

In October, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that his country would transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia, one of the islands, hosts a US military base and is at the center of the internationally lauded yet highly contentious agreement.

A map unveiled by Somalia’s federal government during a recent ceremony in Mogadishu has sparked a backlash from Puntland and Hirshabelle, two key federal states.

The UK has announced it is giving up sovereignty of a remote but strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century.

The BBC gained unprecedented access to Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago. It is strictly out of bounds to most civilians - the site of a highly secretive UK-US military base shrouded for decades in rumour and mystery.

France has shifted its decadeslong position on the status of Western Sahara. The Polisario Front, which claims to represent the Saharawi people, has vowed to push back against Morocco and France.

Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, a small rock in northern Africa conquered by Spain in 1564, holds the title for the world’s smallest national border, measuring just 85 meters in length.

In 2023, the world around de facto states and secessionist entities became more and more unstable. As the power structures that have sustained many of these entities “unfreeze,” windows of opportunity opened for changing the status quo on the ground - changes mostly pursued through force.

In the Sixties the British government expelled them from their island. Exiled to the UK, they’ve never given up hope of returning to their island. ‘As more and more of our elders are dying, it is important to preserve our culture.’

A new book from Philippe Sands, The Last Colony, tells the story of the Chagossians, an island people who were expelled from their homes by the British and Americans.

Israel has recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the Moroccan government and a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office say. Rabat said on Monday that Israel is considering opening a consulate in Dakhla.