Axadle - Leading News from Somalia and the Horn of Africa

Somalia’s Opposition Sounds the Alarm on Election Timelines and Constitutional Changes Mogadishu’s political center of gravity shifts—again In a city where politics is often as kinetic as the traffic circling KM4, Somalia’s opposition has thrown a sharp new challenge at the government. The Somali Salvation Forum, a coalition led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, wrapped up a two-day meeting in Mogadishu by accusing federal authorities of losing focus on the war against al-Shabaab and instead prioritizing the sale of…

Analysis: Aid Spat Between Northeastern State and Mogadishu Exposes Fragile Federal Ties In Somalia’s rugged northeast, where the wind-carved ridges of the Cal Miskaad range fall to the sea, a familiar political quarrel is spilling into the humanitarian lane. Northeastern State officials and Somalia’s national disaster agency are trading accusations over who blocked lifesaving support to freshly secured areas — and why. It’s a dispute with real consequences for wounded soldiers, displaced families and the credibility of a…

Somalia moves against online defamation. The bigger story is who decides what’s dangerous speech—and when In Mogadishu’s humming tea stalls and on the diaspora’s WhatsApp groups from Minneapolis to Mombasa, politics is now a permanent scroll. Somalia’s Office of the Attorney General stepped squarely into that stream this week, announcing a legal push against what it called online insults, defamation, social incitement, offensive images, immoral content, false information, and posts that “promote societal division.” Some…

US-Backed Airstrikes Hit Suspected al‑Shabaab Sites in Central Somalia MOGADISHU, Somalia — A series of powerful airstrikes struck suspected al‑Shabaab hideouts at the edge of Somalia’s Galgaduud and Middle Shabelle regions over the weekend, according to local security sources and residents, in a fresh show of force that underscores the relentless cat‑and‑mouse campaign against the al‑Qaida‑linked insurgency. Details from the remote frontline remain sketchy. But multiple sources described precision strikes on Hareer…

Breaking: Sudan’s RSF chief Hemedti sworn in to lead parallel government as drones hit Nyala What happened Sudan slid deeper into a dangerous split this weekend as Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — better known as Hemedti — was sworn in as head of a rival government backed by his Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The oath-taking was announced from Nyala, a major city in Darfur that has served as the RSF’s hub during the war. The ceremony could not be independently verified, and Hemedti has rarely been seen inside Sudan since fighting…

Mandera’s uneasy morning: Allegations of Jubaland training on Kenyan soil test a fragile border On a normal school day, the dusty yard of Border Point 1 Primary in Mandera Town would fill with children in blue uniforms and plastic sandals, their chalkboards listing multiplication tables and Swahili proverbs. Instead, the gates are shut. And this week, the school became the unexpected center of a regional security storm when Mandera County officials alleged that Jubaland regional forces from Somalia are training there—inside…

Somalia’s Aid Lifeline Tangled in Political Fight as Northeastern State Blocks Federal Relief to Area Cleared of ISIS Mogadishu — A political feud inside Somalia burst into public view this weekend, as the federal disaster authority accused the state of Northeastern State of blocking medical evacuations and emergency supplies to civilians and soldiers in a rugged northeastern district freshly pried from ISIS control. Mahmoud Moallim, Director-General of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SODMA), said Northeastern State…

Kenya Bets Big on Khat as Its Somalia Lifeline Frays In the cool highlands of Meru, where khat bushes cling to the slopes like stubborn green lace, the leaf locals call miraa is not just a crop. It is a clock. By late morning, pickers hurry to fill baskets; by noon, bundles are racing toward airstrips; by afternoon, flights fan out over the Indian Ocean to quench a daily chew in Mogadishu and beyond. If the chain is disrupted by an argument in a boardroom or a checkpoint on a highway, thousands feel it—farmers in Meru,…

On Türkiye’s Victory Day, Somalia’s envoy stands beside Ankara — and a century of lessons ANKARA — Under a late-summer sky, the red-and-white flag that is never far from Turkish life seemed to stretch just a bit wider this weekend. Victory Day, marked every August 30, is an annual rite here — a day when schoolchildren learn again the name Dumlupinar and adults take an extra glance toward the statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This year, amid the ceremonies and speeches, a guest from the Horn of Africa stepped forward to…

On Turkey’s Victory Day, new Somali officers step forward in Ankara Under a late-summer sky in Ankara, the brass of military bands mingled with the steady tap of parade boots and the low murmur of families craning for a better view. On a day when Turkey commemorates its hard-won independence, a new class of officers—including a cohort from Somalia—crossed the stage at the National Defence University’s War College to collect their diplomas. Somali Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi and Somalia’s ambassador to Turkey,…