Axadle - Breaking news and analysis from Somalia, the Horn of Africa, and across Africa.

Benin's government said its armed forces had foiled an attempted coup Sunday after a small group of soldiers briefly seized control of state television and announced they had taken power. At least eight soldiers, several wearing helmets, appeared on national TV in the early hours to say a military committee led by Colonel Tigri Pascal had dissolved national institutions, suspended the constitution and closed the country's air, land and maritime borders. "The army solemnly commits to give the Beninese people the hope of a…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said Sunday that a negotiated end to the nearly four-year war in Ukraine was “really, really close,” but that Moscow and Washington remained divided over two core issues: territorial settlement, primarily the future of the Donbas, and the status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that talks were in “the last 10 metres,” a phase he said is always the hardest. “If we get those two…

Kenya and the United States advanced a new partnership framework to support Universal Health Coverage after Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale held bilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Dec. 6, Duale said the discussions reaffirmed the two countries’ long-standing collaboration in public health and aligned with Kenya’s drive to strengthen primary care and expand access…

Benin Military Ousts President Talon in Sudden Coup In a shocking turn of events, the government of Benin was upended early Sunday morning as military personnel took to public television to declare the removal of President Patrice Talon. The self-proclaimed Military Committee for Refoundation (CMR) announced that Talon would be replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigri, who will now lead the committee. The military's dramatic announcement has sent ripples through West Africa, raising concerns about stability in a region…

A paramilitary drone attack on the army-held town of Kalogi in Sudan's South Kordofan state struck a kindergarten and a hospital on Thursday, killing dozens of civilians, a local official and aid agencies said. Essam al-Din al-Sayed, head of the Kalogi administrative unit, told AFP via a Starlink connection that three strikes hit the town "— first a kindergarten, then a hospital and a third time as people tried to rescue the children." He blamed the assault on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their ally, the Sudan…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia has renewed its push for sea access, calling it a national necessity tied to regional cooperation, economic growth and stability in the Horn of Africa, according to a new government-backed report presented in the capital. The document, unveiled by senior officials and allied experts, argues that Ethiopia’s campaign to secure a seaport rests on international law, historical justice and principles of cooperative engagement with neighbors. Framing the issue as an urgent matter of state policy,…

HARGEISA, North Western State of Somalia — Information Minister Ahmed Yasin Sheikh Ali Ayaanle resigned late Saturday, saying he was tasked with delivering a “bitter decision” to allow a book launch celebrating Xeer Ciise that preceded deadly unrest in the Awdal region’s Borama town. Ayaanle said President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi assigned him to announce the authorization for the ceremony, which triggered clashes between residents and security forces that left 10 people dead, according to local authorities and community…

"One thing that stands out in the new National Military Strategy is that it is 10X more critical of Europe than Russia," Representative Don Bacon said, capturing the bluntness of a document that lands like a geopolitical hammer on transatlantic relations. The U.S. National Security Strategy released this week reframes Europe not primarily as a continental partner to be cultivated through institutions and trade, but as a civilisational project in need of rescue. The 60-some page blueprint — three of which are devoted to…

Analysis: Turkish Intelligence Flags ‘Unprecedented Fragility’ in Somalia as Ankara’s Stakes Deepen ANKARA, Turkey — A new intelligence academy report in Turkey warns that Somalia faces “unprecedented fragility,” identifying a confluence of security, political and institutional risks that could shape the trajectory of the country’s stability — and the future of Ankara’s most ambitious partnership in Africa. The assessment, titled “A Multidimensional Partnership Model,” acknowledges gains in the Turkey–Somalia relationship…

Somalia says it maintains direct contacts with North Western State of Somalia, seeks political solution amid rising Horn of Africa stakes MOGADISHU — Somalia’s government is engaging in direct and regular contact with authorities in North Western State of Somalia and pursuing a negotiated political settlement, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ali Omar Balcad said in an interview published Saturday. Speaking to Doha News, Balcad reaffirmed the federal government’s position that North Western State of Somalia remains part…