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

After nearly 10 days in space, the Artemis II capsule carrying four astronauts tore back through Earth's atmosphere and splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, closing out humanity's first journey into the moon's neighborhood in more than 50 years. NASA's gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, named Integrity, drifted under parachutes into the ocean off Southern California shortly after 5pm PT (1am Irish time), bringing to an end a mission that carried its crew farther into space than any people had traveled before. Covering…

Türkiye’s deep-sea drilling vessel Çağrı Bey has reached Mogadishu, setting the stage for Somalia’s first offshore oil drilling campaign, officials from both countries said Friday. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar described the mission as “historic,” saying it would “open a new chapter in Turkish energy history.” The work stems from a hydrocarbon agreement signed in 2024, which gave Türkiye’s state-owned energy company TPAO the right to explore three offshore blocks, each covering about 5,000 square…

BAFTA has issued an "unreserved" apology to black and disability communities after a racial slur was heard during its 2026 film awards, as an independent review concluded the organisation’s planning for the ceremony contained "a number of structural weaknesses". In a statement published on Friday, the BAFTA board of trustees said its apology extended not only to the black community over the racist language broadcast during the event, but also to the disability community, which it said had been subjected to "unfair judgement"…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali Member of Parliament Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame has sounded the alarm over Somalia’s oil exploration agreement with Turkey, warning that the deal could leave the country with little control over its own resources as the drilling vessel Çağrı Bey moves into Somali waters. Warsame said the arrangement is "deeply imbalanced" and argued that its structure appears to tilt overwhelmingly in favor of one party. According to his assessment, more than 90 percent of the benefits would go to a single…

Friday April 10, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somali National Army forces, operating alongside international partners, launched an airstrike in Somalia’s Mudug region on Thursday that the Ministry of Defense said killed about 70 al-Shabab fighters and left dozens more wounded. The intelligence-driven strike hit what officials described as a large militant assembly near Tawarmooge, about 8 kilometers south of Aad and 45 kilometers north of Harardhere in central Somalia. In a statement, the ministry said the target was a location…

A fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran faces a pivotal test in Islamabad, where the two sides are holding their highest-level talks in years in a Pakistan-brokered effort to turn a two-week pause in fighting into a durable end to a war that has shaken global energy markets. Here are five things to know about the Islamabad talks. The conflict that set the stage On 28 February, the US and Israel carried out coordinated strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and hit Iran's military and nuclear…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Djibouti went to the polls on Friday in a presidential election that is all but certain to hand longtime leader Ismaïl Omar Guelleh a sixth term, after lawmakers removed presidential age limits last year. Guelleh, 78, has governed the Horn of Africa nation of roughly 1 million people for more than 20 years. In the 2021 vote, he won nearly 99% of the ballots cast. This time, he faces just one opponent, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former member of the ruling party, in a contest analysts describe as lacking…

Friday April 10, 2026 Hargeisa (AX) — North Western State of Somalia moved on Thursday to stamp out the cycle of clan fighting in Salal and Awdal, announcing a set of measures that orders armed militias to withdraw and warns that anyone who obstructs the peace effort will face legal action. The plan was unveiled by North Western State of Somalia’s vice president, who said the government was “deeply saddened” by the repeated flare-ups of inter-clan violence and remains determined to secure a final, durable settlement. He…

Jubaland, one of Somalia’s federal member states in the south, has become a key political player in national debates over elections, security, and the balance of power between Mogadishu and regional administrations. At the center of this influence is Jubaland’s president, Ahmed Mohamed Islam—known as Ahmed Madobe—and his government in Kismayo.In recent years, Jubaland’s leadership has shaped how Somalia’s federal system operates in practice, especially as the country moves toward election reforms and faces ongoing militant…

Shielded from the freezing void outside their spacecraft, the Artemis II astronauts still face one of deep space travel’s most persistent threats: radiation. NASA is now waiting closely for data that could reveal how much exposure the crew endured and what it means for future missions. The four astronauts traveled farther into space than any humans before them, venturing more than 1,000 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station. In low Earth orbit, the planet’s magnetosphere helps blunt some of the…