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

Sunday June 7, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — The Somali Salvation Forum said Saturday it had received indications that security forces were preparing to move against the Mogadishu home of former Somali National Army commander Gen. Odowaa Yusuf Raage. In a statement, the opposition alliance alleged that forces under the command of Aden Mohamed Omar, widely known as Aadan Dheere, and backed by personnel from security agencies were lining up an assault on Odowaa’s residence in Abdiaziz district. The claims could not be independently…

For years, Donald Trump has made wind power a personal foil — a hostility said to date back to the sight of turbines near his Scottish golf course — and his objections have become a familiar part of his political playbook. The president has long derided windmills, as he calls them, as "ugly," "noisy" and "expensive," while also insisting they are deadly to birds. "Want to see a bird graveyard?" he said. Wind turbines do kill birds, that much is true. But according to the American Bird Conservancy, the toll is far lower than…

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s political standoff sharpened on Sunday after former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed accused the federal government of cutting off basic services, blocking movement and turning security forces against opponents amid an escalating dispute over the country’s elections. Speaking at a news conference in Mogadishu alongside another former leader, Farmajo, Sharif said the authorities had disconnected electricity and water to the compound where he was staying, stopped food from being delivered and barred…

A sweeping Ukrainian drone barrage reached deep into Russian territory on Saturday, prompting air-defence responses across multiple regions, disrupting flights and rattling cities including Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram that its anti-aircraft units intercepted and destroyed 339 Ukrainian drones over 13 hours, from 7am to 8pm local time, across 13 regions as well as above parts of the Black Sea. The ministry's list of affected areas stretched across central Russia and extended…

The gunfire that rattled Mogadishu was more than another burst of Somalia’s long-running insecurity. It marked the first armed eruption of a constitutional fight that has been simmering for more than two years. On the surface, the confrontation centers on elections, a subject that has repeatedly upended Somali politics. The federal government says constitutional reforms and electoral changes are needed to move the country toward universal suffrage. The opposition, by contrast, accuses President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of using…

Sunday June 7, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Former Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Sunday accused the federal government of tightening pressure on the opposition by restricting his movement, cutting off essential services to his compound and suppressing political activity in the wake of deadly violence in the capital. At a news conference in Mogadishu, Sharif said electricity, water and food deliveries to his residence had been halted, while visitors were being turned away at the gate. “We have had our electricity cut off,…

In a warning that cut through the usual techno-utopian rhetoric, Pope Leo XIV used his encyclical on the dangers of artificial intelligence last month to argue that AI must be "disarmed". "To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity," he said. Addressing AI developers directly, the Pope said they carried an "ethical and spiritual responsibility" and urged them to ensure what they are building serves a "genuine good". Then on Thursday, Anthropic published an essay urging that…

By: Abdiaziz Khalif and Sonia PlazaSunday June 7, 2026 Outside Baidoa, in a camp for displaced families in Somalia, Fadumo Maxamed Ahmed begins her day by feeding the last surviving camel in her household with the dregs of her morning tea leaves. In Mogadishu, a woman selling milk may think of food safety in simpler terms: a spotless container, the right storage and the assurance that her product will arrive in good condition. For a livestock exporter, the stakes look different — reliable certification, healthy animals and…

Madrid surged to a standstill on Sunday morning as more than a million people crowded the capital’s streets and a landmark square for a fleeting look at Pope Leo XIV, who traveled to an open-air Mass set to become the biggest gathering of his week-long visit to Spain. Flags fluttered above the crowds and chants of “long live the pope” rang out as the pontiff rode in the popemobile along Madrid’s grand Paseo de la Castellana toward Cibeles Square, where he was scheduled to celebrate the Mass. As he entered the square, some in…

By Khadar AfrahSunday June 7, 2026 Somalia has long told itself a consoling tale about its own failure: that its troubles are always authored elsewhere. Colonial mapmakers, Cold War blocs, hostile neighbours, opportunistic donors and a parade of foreign conferences are cast as the chief culprits. Abdirahman Roble Ulayare’s recent Hiiraan Online essay, “Foreign interference and the struggle for Somali sovereignty,” sits squarely in that tradition. It is earnest. It is also evasive. Ulayare is not wrong about everything.…