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

MOGADISHU, May 16 - Somalia’s political crisis deepened on Saturday as term-ended President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met Turkey’s ambassador just hours after talks collapsed over the question of his expired mandate, a move viewed by some as an effort to show he still commands international support. The meeting at the Villa Somalia presidential palace with Ambassador Alper Aktaş followed a failed attempt by opposition leaders and regional states to reach common ground at the UN-protected Halane compound on Mohamud’s tenure,…

By  JACK DENTON and OMAR FARUKSaturday May 16, 2026 Abdi Ahmed Farah has watched nearly all of his hundreds of goats die, a loss that would have seemed unimaginable in the Somali countryside where he has spent his life. For three straight years, rain has failed to arrive with any regularity in this corner of Somalia, and the 70-year-old says he has never known conditions this harsh. He is already in debt after buying water. The reservoir beside his tent is almost dry. His family now survives on one meal a day — rice mixed…

Saturday May 16, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia is edging back toward famine as drought, soaring food and fuel costs and severe cuts to humanitarian funding leave more than 6 million people facing acute hunger, Oxfam has warned. Fresh data from the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification shows that nearly one in three Somalis is now living with crisis-level hunger or worse, or IPC Phase 3 and above. Within that group, nearly 1.9 million people are already in emergency food insecurity, just one step short of…

A sweeping political declaration endorsed by 46 member states of the Council of Europe, the Strasbourg-based human rights body, could shape the way judges approach some of Europe’s most contested migration cases. Ireland is among the countries to back the declaration, which zeroes in on the deportation of criminals and the handling of asylum claims. It says that while migrants’ fundamental rights and freedoms “must be respected and protected in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination”, national governments retain…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s relations with some of its neighbors are fraying, with several regional governments now scaling back their diplomatic engagement and increasingly viewing the federal authorities in Mogadishu as an administration whose mandate has lapsed and whose political legitimacy remains in dispute, according to regional officials and diplomatic sources. The tension is unfolding against a backdrop of mounting political deadlock in Somalia, where delayed elections and a failure by the federal government and…

By: Abdirahman Jeylani Mohamed Saturday May 16, 2026 Somalia has reached a fraught political milestone. On 15 May 2026, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s constitutional mandate formally expired, landing the country in one of its most precarious moments in recent memory. The date carries heavy symbolism. It coincides with Somali Youth Day, a commemoration of the generation behind the Somali Youth League (SYL), which once imagined a united, democratic and sovereign Somali republic built on civic nationalism rather than…

Armed men launched a brazen attack on a school in Nigeria’s troubled Borno state on Friday, seizing an unspecified number of students in what marks the latest in a string of abductions haunting the region. The assault took place at Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, located in Askira-Uba Local Government Area. According to resident Ubaidallah Hasaan, the gunmen struck at around 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) while classes were underway, spiriting away several students. A teacher from the school recounted to Reuters that the…

A deadly Ebola outbreak has erupted in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, African health authorities said, as neighbouring Uganda confirmed a linked fatality that underscored fears the virus could move across borders. So far, the outbreak has remained concentrated in Ituri province in northeastern DRC, near the frontiers with Uganda and South Sudan, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) said. The agency warned the threat of wider transmission was high, citing 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths…

Saturday May 16, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s intelligence service says an airstrike in the Hiiraan region wounded at least three senior al-Shabab figures and destroyed vehicles and facilities used by the militant group. The National Intelligence and Security Agency said Friday that the operation, conducted with international partners, targeted the Buq Aqable area, where al-Shabab was reportedly gathering new recruits. NISA identified the wounded commanders as Ali Hussein, described as a militia leader behind attacks in…

A fragile pause in the fighting between Israel and Lebanon is set to last a little longer after the two sides agreed to extend their ceasefire by 45 days, according to the US State Department. "The 16 April cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress," State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott said. US officials described Israel-Lebanon talks in Washington over the past two days as "highly productive", saying the two countries will return to the table for further negotiations on 2 June and…