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

The World Health Organization has issued a stark warning that the Ebola outbreak poses a significant risk at both national and regional levels in Congo and Uganda. However, the global threat remains low. Amidst growing concerns, the leader of the WHO team in Congo has cautioned that the outbreak, which has resulted in over 130 suspected deaths, could extend for at least two more months as efforts to control the situation intensify. The WHO has characterized the Ebola outbreak as a public health emergency of…

By Christina MoralesJill Cowan and Neil VigdorJill Cowan reported from San Diego.Thursday May 21, 2026 Each morning, Amin Abdullah made the same careful rounds before heading across town to his day job as a security guard at the Islamic Center of San Diego. He would arrive at a small, aging mosque, walk its edges with a flashlight and check every dark corner, said his friend Khalid Alexander. Then he would step inside to pray. For Mr. Abdullah, a Muslim convert, the work was more than a paycheck. It was a duty he felt…

Ireland has stepped up pressure on Brussels after the detention of EU citizens aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, with the Taoiseach urging European leaders to confront Israel’s actions at next month’s summit. Micheál Martin has written to European Council President António Costa calling for Israel’s treatment of the group to be discussed by EU leaders, and saying they should examine whether all or part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be suspended over what he described as the illegal detention of EU citizens by…

Péter Magyar used his first trip abroad as Hungary’s new prime minister to send an unmistakable signal: Budapest wants a fresh start with Warsaw. Mr Magyar met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw on the opening day of a two-day visit, a trip that underscores a broader effort to repair ties between the two capitals after years of friction under former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Relations worsened sharply in the final stretch of Mr Orbán’s rule, especially after Hungary granted asylum to a former Polish…

Russia and China used a joint declaration to cast the current world order as increasingly unstable, warning that the failure of some countries to dominate global affairs in a colonial-era mindset had given way to a renewed risk of rule by raw power. "The global situation is becoming more complex," they said in a declaration released by the Kremlin in Russian. "The agenda for global peace ‌and development faces new risks and challenges, and there is ‌a danger that the international community will fragment and return to the…

A decades-old confrontation between Washington and Havana took a dramatic new turn after former Cuban president Raúl Castro was charged in the United States with murder, sharply intensifying pressure on the island’s communist leadership. The indictment was filed on 23 April in federal court in Miami, Florida. According to the court documents, the 94-year-old faces one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft. Five other individuals are also listed as defendants…

By  JAMES ROBSONWednesday May 20, 2026 Arsenal’s long wait for the Premier League crown is finally over. Mikel Arteta’s side secured the title for the first time since 2004 on Tuesday, after Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth. “I told you all.. it’s done,” Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice wrote on social media alongside a photo of him and his teammates celebrating. The outcome effectively ended what could prove to be Pep Guardiola’s last charge for the championship with City, after the decorated manager…

Wednesday May 20, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia will administer its national secondary school examinations for the 2025-26 academic year from June 20 to June 25, the Ministry of Education announced Wednesday. Officials said close to 40,000 students from the federal member states and the Banadir region are set to take part in this year’s tests. Education officials said the national exams are a key part of efforts to strengthen Somalia’s education system and create a unified standard for assessing student performance across…

A US doctor infected with Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the country’s deadly current outbreak has been admitted to a high-security isolation unit at a hospital in Germany, health officials said. The patient, identified as medical missionary Dr Peter Stafford, reached Germany overnight after the United States asked Berlin to assist with his treatment. "I can confirm that the US citizen who was infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been admitted to the…

By Abdirahman Roble UlayareWednesday May 20, 2026 Introduction For many informed Somalis, the answer to who has kept Somalia from becoming a fully sovereign state is painfully familiar. The pattern did not begin in the aftermath of the civil war or with the country’s collapse in the early 1990s; it stretches back to colonial rule and the damage left behind when foreign powers departed. In the view of many Somalis, outside actors, regional rivals, and local collaborators have all helped sustain a cycle of instability that…