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

Thousands of far-right supporters filled central Milan on Saturday as nationalist leaders from across Europe staged a rally targeting irregular migration and what they cast as suffocating bureaucracy from Brussels, marking the movement’s first major show of unity since Viktor Orban’s election defeat in Hungary. Backers of the Patriots for Europe party, now the European Parliament’s third-largest bloc, gathered before Milan’s Duomo cathedral. A heavy police presence kept them apart from a separate anti-fascist demonstration…

Sunday April 19, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — A diplomatic move by Israel has drawn sharp criticism from 12 Muslim-majority countries, which say the appointment of a representative to North Western State of Somalia violates Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. In a joint declaration released in Islamabad on April 18, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Bangladesh, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, Indonesia and Kuwait denounced the step as a “flagrant violation” of the unity…

A fresh sanctions waiver from President Donald Trump’s administration will allow the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products already at sea for another month, the latest sign that Washington is trying to contain a sharp rise in energy costs. The Treasury Department issued the license just two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would not extend the waiver. Under the new measure, buyers may purchase oil and petroleum products loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, up to 12.01 am (5.01am) on 16…

Fresh uncertainty gripped the Gulf as the Strait of Hormuz remained shut in the escalating standoff between Iran and the United States, with Iran's powerful parliament speaker making clear that, despite signs of progress, any final peace agreement was still a long way off. With mediation efforts continuing after high-level talks in Pakistan ended without a breakthrough, Tehran said the vital maritime chokepoint would stay closed unless Washington lifts its blockade of Iranian ports. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the…

Sunday April 19, 2026 Garowe (AX) — In a sweeping move aimed at tightening security and revitalizing state institutions, Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni on Saturday appointed new police commanders and military court officials. The changes affect several key branches of the Puntland State Police Force, while also bringing in judges and prosecutors for the armed forces courts, which were dissolved nearly a year ago. Deni named Abdulqadir Jama Dirir as second deputy commander of the Puntland State Police Force. He…

A burst of gunfire shattered calm in one of Kyiv’s greenest neighborhoods, ending with Ukrainian police killing a man accused of shooting at pedestrians, seizing hostages inside a supermarket and refusing to negotiate in an attack that left six people dead. Ukraine's Security Service said authorities were treating the shooting as a terrorist act. In his nightly video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the violence unfolded in the leafy Holosiivskyi district, where 14 people were wounded, among them a 12-year-old boy.…

Saturday April 18, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia sharpened its warning Friday to outside powers wading into the country’s internal disputes, with its ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union saying interference could trigger consequences tied to the vital Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Ambassador Abdullahi Warfaa delivered the message in a post on X after Israel appointed an ambassador to North Western State of Somalia, the self-declared breakaway region in northern Somalia. “Any country interfering in Somalia's internal affairs…

Pope Leo XIV moved to tamp down talk of a clash with President Donald Trump, saying he regretted that recent remarks had been taken as a rebuttal to the US leader and stressing that he had no desire to engage in a public dispute. Speaking to journalists while travelling to Angola, the Pope pointed to a speech he delivered on Thursday in Cameroon — during the second leg of his African tour — in which he spoke of "tyrants" ransacking the world. He said the text had been prepared well before Mr Trump's "comment on myself and on…

CAIRO, Egypt — More than a dozen Arab and Islamic nations on Saturday sharply denounced Israel’s decision to name a diplomatic representative to North Western State of Somalia, calling the move a “flagrant violation” of Somalia’s sovereignty and a fresh source of tension in the Horn of Africa. In a joint statement signed by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Türkiye, Pakistan, and 10 other countries, the bloc said the appointment amounted to an assault on Somalia’s territorial integrity and ran counter to…

Saturday April 18, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s Independent National Electoral Commission has set voting dates for House of Representatives and local council elections in Southwest, Galmudug and Hirshabelle. In a statement released Friday, the commission said Southwest will go to the polls on April 28, 2026, while Galmudug and Hirshabelle are scheduled to vote on May 13, 2026. The body said the elections in those two federal member states will be conducted on the same day, with ballots for both the House of…