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

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the second phase of a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza is close, but several critical details remain unresolved — most notably whether a multinational security force will be deployed to the strip. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Netanyahu said he would raise the outstanding questions with U.S. President Donald Trump when the two meet at the White House at the end of the month. The prime minister’s office…

Premier League title race blown open as Buendia’s stoppage-time strike sinks Arsenal; Man City close in Aston Villa detonated the Premier League title race with a 2-1 win over Arsenal sealed in the fifth minute of stoppage time, trimming the leaders’ advantage to two points after Manchester City’s clinical 3-0 dispatch of Sunderland. Villa sit a point further back in third after a raucous late twist at Villa Park that revived Unai Emery’s resurgent side and rattled Mikel Arteta’s unbeaten machine. Emiliano Buendia,…

DOHA — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday presided over a high-level session on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, using the global platform to press for tighter coordination of international support behind Somalia’s state-building agenda. In a detailed briefing, Mohamud outlined the government’s push to stabilize the country and reform public institutions while waging a multi-front campaign against international terrorist groups. He said Somalia is countering the threat militarily, economically and…

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…