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

The Ebola outbreak tearing through central Africa was already well advanced by the time health officials identified it, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday, even as he stressed that efforts to contain the virus are beginning to gain ground. Declared on 15 May in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the outbreak has so far been confirmed in 359 people, among them 61 who have died. Health officials caution, however, that the true toll may be considerably higher, with signs the virus had been…

After a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the country’s Ebola outbreak is beginning to turn a corner, even as major hurdles persist in testing, surveillance, vaccine development and winning community trust. What he witnessed on the ground, he added, left him hopeful. Tedros reported a decline in cases. He said 344 infections have been confirmed in the DR Congo, including 60 deaths. At the same time, suspected cases have fallen sharply—from…

Gunfire in Mogadishu has done what weeks of warnings could not: it has laid bare the hard political truth that Somalia’s election disputes cannot be settled by force alone. For months, federal member states, opposition figures and other influential political actors had urged caution as efforts moved ahead around an electoral model that never won nationwide consensus. Their message was consistent. In Somalia’s still-fragile political order, negotiation and agreement matter more than the reach of state institutions acting on…

Thursday June 4, 2026 Ismail Jama Ali by the shack where he and his family now live after diabetes forced him out of work and their rented home/Sabah Mohamed/Ergo A sudden collapse changed Ismail Jama Ali’s life in an instant — and with it, the future of the family of 12 he had been trying to hold together. Since being diagnosed with diabetes in February, he has been unable to work, leaving his household in Gabiley scrambling for food, rent and school fees. The illness was first uncovered after he fainted in shock following…

Fresh hopes for calm on the Israel-Lebanon border were jolted within hours, as Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes in the south despite a newly announced conditional ceasefire reached after talks in Washington. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) said drone strikes hit roads in several locations in the south, adding that at least one of the attacks caused casualties. Earlier today, the Israeli military said air raid sirens had sounded in northern Israel. It said one alert involved a "suspicious aerial…

Thursday June 4, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Former Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Wednesday accused President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of turning the national army into a political tool, as fierce fighting continued to rage in parts of Mogadishu. At a news conference in the capital, Sharif said government troops had been deployed in large numbers around his home and surrounding neighborhoods ahead of opposition plans to stage protests on Thursday. He said peaceful protest is a constitutional right and cannot legally be…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 Bosaso (AX) — Puntland State security forces have detained a foreign ISIS fighter in the Calmiskaad mountains of the Bari region, officials said Wednesday, in a development they say reflects mounting pressure on the militant group. Gen. Mahmoud Jama Faadhigo, spokesman for Operation Calmiskaad, said the man was arrested in the Af-cas area after reportedly breaking away from an ISIS base in Shakaala. Faadhigo said the fighter, identified as a Yemeni national, told security personnel that he had spent…

The European Union has cleared the way for Ukraine and Moldova to advance to the next phase of their membership bids, after diplomats said Hungary had signalled it was lifting its long-running veto on Kyiv's progress. "This marks a significant milestone in their European integration path, and sends a strong message of EU unity and determination," Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency, said in a social media post. The bloc formally opened accession talks with Ukraine in June 2024, launching a complex process that…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Gunfire erupted Wednesday afternoon at Dabka junction in Mogadishu, where government forces exchanged fire with the security detail of former Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, just hours before opposition groups were set to stage demonstrations in the capital. Videos and photos circulating on social media showed what appeared to be intense shooting in the area. The number of casualties was not immediately known, and the federal government had not released an official account of…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Tensions in Somalia’s capital sharpened on Wednesday after a short but violent exchange of fire near Dabka junction, with police and former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire each accusing the other side as opposition demonstrations loomed just hours away. In a video posted to the Somali Police Force’s Facebook page, spokesman Abdifatah Adan Hassan said masked armed men targeted a police checkpoint where security personnel were deployed. He said the assailants were carrying heavy…