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

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s federal authorities have tightened security across the capital as opposition groups ready demonstrations in approved locations, deepening a political standoff over the country’s electoral future. Security sources said President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has held consultations with senior security officials and directed the deployment of additional forces along major roads in Mogadishu. On Wednesday morning, the leadership of the Somali National Army (SNA) also met with logistics officials as part…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Former Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said Tuesday that opposition leaders will not accept any government attempt to confine planned anti-government protests to a single site in Mogadishu. Addressing a gathering of opposition politicians, Sharif argued that peaceful demonstration is protected by the constitution and that residents should be able to take to the streets throughout the capital. “The protest should take place wherever it can. The whole city should come out,” Sharif…

Kuwait’s fragile calm was shattered before dawn when an Iranian attack hit civilian sites across the country, killing one person and wounding 63 others, according to the foreign ministry. Among the locations struck were Kuwait International Airport and diplomatic missions. The ministry did not identify which diplomatic missions sustained damage. The health ministry said the wounded included both airport staff and passengers. For the oil-rich Gulf state, the strike signaled a sharp new escalation after weeks of relative quiet…

NAIROBI — Kenyan President William Ruto has said the Kenya-Somalia border will stay shut for now, pointing to lingering security risks, Somalia’s political instability and shortfalls in funding for security operations. Ruto said the move reflects the current security climate in the region, alongside uncertainty inside Somalia and the cost of putting in place the measures needed to manage cross-border travel safely. The border has faced repeated restrictions in recent years, with authorities citing threats linked to militant…

by STEPHEN ASTARIKOWednesday June 3, 2026 Health CS Aden Duale addressing residents of Maalimin, ladgera sub county./STEPHEN ASTARIKO Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has urged President William Ruto to reopen the Kenya-Somalia border and accelerate the tarmacking of the Garissa-Liboi road, arguing that both steps would unlock the economic promise of North Eastern Kenya. Speaking in Maalim Sub-County at the launch of a Mini-Grid project, Duale took the opportunity to deliver what he called a special appeal on behalf of…

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has brushed aside mounting resistance from a bloc of retired military generals and former senior civil servants to Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, declaring “whoever wins, wins” as the fight over the proposed changes intensifies. Mnangagwa is pressing ahead with amendments that would keep him in power beyond the constitutionally stipulated two terms, setting up a sharp confrontation with the group, which has come out strongly against the bill. Represented by retired Air Marshal Henry…

As shells and diplomacy collided, Israel and Hezbollah traded fire on the ground while Lebanese and Israeli envoys sat down in Washington, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cast the militant group as the sole obstacle to a peace agreement. The latest violence followed US President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that he had brokered a deal. The Lebanese embassy in Washington said the arrangement would initially apply only to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israeli territory, before later…

By Afyare Abdi ElmiWednesday June 3, 2026 People protest against the extension of the extension of the mandate of the current federal government, at the Eng. Yariisow Stadium along Dr. Kadare Road in Mogadishu, Somalia May 10, 2026 With its election calendar broken and no political transition agreed, Somalia has slipped into one of the gravest and most perilous phases in its modern history. On May 15, the day President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s four-year term was originally set to end, United States- and United Kingdom-backed…

Russia unleashed one of its fiercest barrages in recent weeks on Ukraine, hammering cities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an assault authorities said killed 22 people and injured more than 100. The strikes, which hit Kyiv and ⁠Dnipro among other cities, came after Russia warned it would carry out "systematic" attacks on the capital following a drone strike last month on a dormitory in the Russian-held Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Kyiv has denied striking the dormitory. The bombardment marked the third…

Wednesday June 3, 2026 President William Ruto has ended his three-day tour of Northern Kenya with a renewed promise to direct more development funds to a region he says has been left behind for too long. He argued that Kenya can only unlock the area’s huge untapped potential if the North is fully woven into the national development blueprint. “Northern Kenya is not peripheral; it is central to the development of Kenya,” he said on Tuesday at Maalimin in Lagdera Constituency, Garissa County. He added: “I am on a mission to…