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

Sunday March 29, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s federal government has thrown out the results of Saturday’s elections in Baidoa, branding them illegitimate and intensifying a tense showdown with the Southwest State administration. In a statement from the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation, officials said the vote amounted to a “premeditated appointment” that did not reflect the wishes of the people of Southwest State. “The election was not legitimate,” the ministry said. “Any process based on…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s lower house speaker has blocked an impeachment bid against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, according to a lawmaker who said the effort had the backing of more than 120 parliamentarians. Dahir Amin Jesow, a member of the House of the People, said Aden Mohamed Nur, better known as Aadan Madoobe, refused to receive the motion calling for the president’s removal. Jesow said the proposal, submitted by a group of lawmakers, contained “serious accusations” against Mohamud, but was not sent through…

“Meat grinder” assaults. That was the stark phrase used by Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, to characterize Russian tactics on parts of the 1,200km front in mid-March. From Tuesday, 17 March through Friday, 20 March, Russian troops carried out more than 600 assault operations across the entire frontline, General Syrskyi said this week in a post on the Facebook page of Ukraine’s armed forces. He said those attacks left Russia with more than 6,000 casualties in only four days. Ukrainian and Western military…

Somalia is moving step by step toward elections where citizens cast ballots directly, a shift from decades of clan-based and indirect voting. In 2026, the process is no longer only a political promise: local voting has started, electoral laws have advanced, and Somalia’s election institutions are working to widen the model beyond pilot areas. Still, disputes over inclusion, security and political consensus remain central to whether the 2026 timetable can hold. What Happened Somalia’s election reform effort has followed…

Iclal TuranSaturday March 28, 2026 US military hardware worth billions of dollars has been damaged or destroyed since the US-Israeli war on Iran began, with Iranian missile and drone attacks responsible for much of the destruction, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday. In the opening three weeks of fighting, losses are estimated at between $1.4 billion and $2.9 billion, Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon budget official now with the American Enterprise Institute, told the newspaper. Among the incidents…

Julian Borger and Aram Roston in WashingtonSaturday March 28, 2026 Mohammed bin Salman has urged Trump not to cut short war, according to New York Times report confirmed by a Saudi intelligence source. Photograph: AP Saudi Arabia has called on the United States to intensify its strikes on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, as Riyadh weighs whether to enter the conflict itself. The source backed a New York Times account saying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, had pressed Donald…

Israel reported a first-ever missile attack from Yemen early Saturday, as air-raid sirens sounded for the third straight night across parts of the country—amid an escalating war that has already reshaped regional shipping and battered global markets. Shortly after dawn, Israel’s military said a missile was launched from Yemen toward Israeli territory. The Houthis—an Iran-backed rebel movement that has governed Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014—have not yet acknowledged responsibility. Siren alerts were reported around Beer…

More than half a million KitKat bars vanished in Europe last week after thieves stole the truck carrying the confectionery, Nestle said. In a statement, the Swiss food giant said the shipment consisted of 413,793 KitKat bars from the brand’s new range. The truck departed from central Italy to distribute the chocolate across Europe, but it never arrived at its planned final stop in Poland. Nestle said neither the vehicle nor the merchandise has been accounted for, and it did not specify the exact location where the truck was…

Iran-linked hackers have breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email account, releasing private photographs and a trove of messages online, according to the hackers and the FBI, prompting renewed concern about cyberattacks targeting senior U.S. officials. In a post on their website on Friday, a group calling itself Handala Hack Team declared that Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims.” The hackers posted a series of personal images showing the FBI director sniffing and smoking…

French police foiled what authorities described as an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris early Saturday, arresting a man seconds before he could trigger a homemade explosive device, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The incident unfolded at around 3.30am local time, or 1.30am Irish time, in front of a Bank of America building in the city’s upscale 8th arrondissement, just a couple of streets from the Champs-Elysees. One of the sources said officers detained the suspect shortly after he had…