Axadle - Leading News from Somalia and the Horn of Africa

Sunday May 3, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — The European Union has welcomed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s invitation to the Somali Future Council for a high-level meeting in Mogadishu on May 10, as political uncertainty deepens with the end of his term approaching. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Francesca Di Mauro, the EU Ambassador to Somalia, said the bloc backs efforts to build agreement on the country’s electoral path. “The EU in Somalia welcomes President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s invitation to the Future…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Abdiasis Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, the former South West state leader, broke weeks of silence on Monday with a forceful declaration: he still regards himself as the legitimate president of the regional administration and intends to return later this month. Laftagareen said he would head back to the Southwest area 13 days after the current term of Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud ends, insisting that he plans to resume his duties despite the political standoff surrounding his ouster. “If May 15…

Sunday May 3, 2026 FC Barcelona moved within touching distance of the La Liga crown on Saturday night, grinding out a 2-1 away victory over Osasuna in a result that leaves the title race all but over. Locked in by a stubborn home defense for much of the contest, Barcelona finally found a breakthrough in the 81st minute when Robert Lewandowski steered in a Marcus Rashford delivery. Five minutes later, Ferran Torres finished off Fermin Lopez's through ball to put the visitors in command. Raul Garcia halved the deficit with an…

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of Washington this week, accusing America of entering the war with Iran without a clear plan for how to finish it. The US, he said bluntly, appeared to have no strategy for the conflict. "The problem with conflicts like this is always you don't just have to get in," he said during a meeting with German students, "you have to get out again". "We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan for 20 years - we saw it in Iraq," he added. The remarks quickly set off a…

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said the relationship between the United States and the European Union has reached a “point of no return” after Washington moved to withdraw thousands of troops from Germany. Vučić described the decision as the opening stage of a possible clash between the United States and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, warning that the standoff could intensify quickly in the months ahead. “It is the beginning of a serious confrontation that may deepen quickly,” Vučić said, voicing…

by STEPHEN ASTARIKOSunday May 3, 2026 Residents of Mwingi barricade the Busy Nairobi-Garissa road in Mwingi town./STEPHEN ASTARIKO Leaders from Garissa are urging restraint as insecurity continues to stir fear and deepen friction between communities in Garissa and Kitui counties. The unrest has already begun to choke trade, disrupt travel and strain livelihoods across the region. On Monday, bus operators suspended services on the Garissa–Mwingi–Nairobi route after a string of attacks and rising tension between pastoralists…

When Andrzej Poczobut crossed from Belarus into Poland last Tuesday, he barely resembled the broad-shouldered, sharply dressed journalist familiar to Polish readers just five years earlier. Images that swiftly spread from the border crossing in eastern Poland showed a hollowed, gaunt man with a shaved head. Five years in cold, concrete prison cells — including six months in solitary confinement last year — had left him looking far older than 53. His freedom, secured as part of a 10-person prisoner exchange, came after months…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The United Nations Transition Mission in Somalia (UNTMIS) on Sunday threw its support behind President Hassan Sheikh’s appeal for political stakeholders to gather for a high-level consultative meeting, a move aimed at breaking the country’s extended political stalemate. In a statement posted on social media, the UN mission said the proposed summit offers a vital chance to build a common approach on key national questions that have kept the government and opposition at odds for months. “UNTMIS welcomes…

Mohamed GabobeSunday May 3, 2026 Gulf of Aden (file photo) An oil tanker has been seized by Somali pirates off Yemen’s coast, according to several Somali security officials who spoke to the BBC. Yemen’s coastguard said earlier that the MT Eureka had been hijacked and was being taken toward Somalia. Security sources said the vessel was overpowered by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, close to the port of Qana. The attackers are understood to have left a remote stretch of coastline near the seaside town of Qandala, on the Gulf of…

Israeli airstrikes hit southern Lebanon with deadly force, killing 13 people, the country’s health ministry said, including residents of a town where the Israeli military had ordered an evacuation despite a ceasefire still being in place. According to the ministry, the heaviest toll came in Habboush, where eight people were killed, among them a child and two women, while 21 others were wounded - an increase from an earlier casualty count. In Zrariyeh, four people were killed in separate strikes, including two women, and…