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

NAIROBI (AXADLE) Germany is providing € 20 million in aid through the United Nations to alleviate the suffering of the ongoing severe drought in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. Following a historic drought, the UN estimates that around 13 million people are at risk of starvation. In Somalia, 1.4 million people are estimated to be displaced due to the current drought, and 7.7 million, half of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. There has been almost no rainfall in…

As France prepares to withdraw its forces from Mali, the way may be open for talks between the Malian government and al-Qaeda-linked militants, a process that could bring the West African nation closer to peace. Mali, a landlocked nation of 21 million people, has fought to curb a brutal uprising that erupted in 2012, before spreading to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and 2 million people displaced by the Sahel-wide conflict, in which Mali is…

MOGADISHU (AXADLE) Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) deplore the brutal attack by the Turkish-trained Haramcad police force against journalists covering militant attacks in Mogadishu on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. Around 9am on Wednesday, a group of local journalists went to report car bombing and gunfire at several police stations and security checkpoints in Somalia's capital Mogadishu the night before. According to the journalists and the photos from the…

The growing inequality between vaccines around the world has affected the poorer countries the most, especially the African countries. In an attempt to bridge the gap, Germany's BioNTech, the developers of the first mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 together with Pfizer, announced plans to send mobile vaccine production units to Africa. "The question was, can we make the process compact enough to fit in a container," BioNTech CEO and co-founder Uğur Şahin told Agence France-Presse (AFP) when the company…

France and its allies in a European force announced on Thursday that they would begin withdrawing troops from Mali after nearly 10 years of fighting an extremist uprising. A statement signed by France and its African and European allies said that "several obstacles" from the ruling junta meant that the conditions were no longer in place to operate in Mali. The decision concerns both France's Barkhane force in the Sahel and the European force Takuba, which Paris had tried to create together with its…

Eleven years after the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gaddafi, Libya's transition process continues as Libyans find themselves with two prime ministers, a situation that threatens to unleash a new power struggle in the war-torn nation. Just weeks after national elections scheduled for December 24 were postponed indefinitely, the East-based parliament voted to appoint the influential former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to replace the Provisional Unity Government. Incumbent Prime Minister Abdul Hamid…

Burkina Faso's junta leader Lieutenant Colonel Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba was sworn in as president on Wednesday, less than a month after mutinous soldiers took control of the West African country in a coup. The inauguration ceremony, which is not open to the public, was held at the Constitutional Court. Speaking to the nation on state television after taking the oath, Damiba praised the security forces and the people of the country who he said had been facing threats from extremism for more than six…

Al-Shabab militants attacked a number of police stations and safety checkpoints in Somalia's capital Mogadishu early Wednesday, officers and militants mentioned, as a present of power because the nation prepares for a much-delayed presidential election. The al-Qaeda-linked militants are finishing up frequent assaults on the federal government and final week attacked a minibus carrying delegates. The group's spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, mentioned warriors hit authorities targets in 4 districts of the…

The appointment of a new prime minister before an official session of the Supreme Council is an "inappropriate move and does not help build trust between the two councils," Libya's president said in an early statement. Wednesday. The High Council of State (HCS) - a Tripoli-based body equivalent to a Senate - competes with the House of Representatives (HoR), based in the eastern city of Tobruk. The HoR this week "unanimously" approved former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to lead the government, a…

The Ethiopian parliament on Tuesday lifted a state of emergency imposed in November final yr when Tigrayan rebels threatened to advance towards the capital, the Foreign Ministry introduced and eased restrictions sooner than anticipated. "The people's representatives of #Ethiopia have today approved the revocation of the six-month state of emergency," the ministry mentioned on Twitter. The vote by lawmakers adopted a proposal by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's cupboard final month to ease the state of…