Saturday May 9, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — A fresh wave of arrests and harassment targeting journalists in Mogadishu has drawn sharp condemnation from the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), which says police and intelligence officers detained multiple media workers over the past week as political temperatures climbed in the capital. In a statement issued Saturday, NUSOJ said reporters and camera operators from Kalsan TV, Goobjoog Media Group, Shabelle Media Network, Somali Stream, Somali Cable TV and Kaab TV were…

Saturday May 9, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud landed in Djibouti City on Friday at the head of a Somali delegation, joining regional leaders for the inauguration of Djibouti’s re-elected President, Ismail Omar Guelleh. At the airport, the Somali president and his delegation were welcomed by Djibouti Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed and other senior officials, a reception that highlighted the long-standing ties and cooperation between the two neighboring countries. President Hassan…

Sarah Johnson and Mohamed BulbulFriday May 8, 2026 From behind prison walls in Somalia, a 27-year-old rickshaw driver says her only crime was speaking out. Sadia Moalim Ali has accused her guards of stripping her naked, beating her and locking her in a cell without food after her arrest over anti-government protests. Sadia Moalim Ali, who says she was arrested, beaten and left for two days without food. Photograph: Handout A woman detained in Somalia for joining peaceful demonstrations has described what she says was a…

Tuesday May 5, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Hormuud Telecom, Somalia’s largest telecommunications company, on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with Get-Phone to introduce the country’s first structured smartphone financing plan. The program is designed to help millions of low-income Somalis obtain internet-enabled phones for the first time, targeting what officials described as the affordability gap that continues to keep many people out of the digital economy, even as 4G service now reaches more than 70% of the population. Under…

Thursday May 7, 2026 Hargeisa (AX) — North Western State of Somalia authorities on Thursday appealed for calm in the Carmale area of Erigavo district in Sanaag, where fierce inter-clan fighting has left dozens dead, according to local reports. Interior Minister Abdalle Mohamed Arab “Sandheere” said the clashes have inflicted heavy losses and pushed the government to hold an emergency meeting focused on stopping the violence. He said security forces and local administrations in the area had been instructed to take part in…

Thursday May 7, 2026 Missouri (AX) — A Somali national has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after being convicted in the kidnapping of a woman whose body was later found in a roadside ditch in Missouri, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Mahamud Tooxoow Mahamed, 44, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Megan B. Benton in a case that ended with the death of a woman identified in court records as J.M. According to prosecutors, J.M.’s body was discovered on July 29, 2019, near Missouri Highway 59 after a…

by STEPHEN ASTARIKOWednesday May 6, 2026 Muslim Religious leaders drawn from SUPKEM during the meeting. /STEPHEN ASTARIKO Religious leaders in Northeastern are sounding the alarm over what they describe as a “silent epidemic” of HIV and AIDS, calling for immediate, coordinated action to confront a health challenge they say is spreading under the weight of stigma and denial. The warning came during a high-level meeting in Garissa convened by the National Syndemic Disease Control Council (NSDCC) in collaboration with the…

Wednesday May 6, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somali opposition leaders are preparing a mass rally in Mogadishu on May 10, calling on residents to take to the streets in protest against what they say is the forced displacement of people from the capital and to demand that families be allowed to return to their homes. Former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, speaking in Mogadishu on Wednesday, said the suffering of residents — especially those uprooted from their neighborhoods — must not be dismissed. “The people of Mogadishu…

By Mahad CamalTuesday May 5, 2026 Jurist and DirectorBackground in Conflict Studies Somalia’s political reality can be read most clearly when one looks not at slogans, but at how power is actually exercised. That is the lens used here, drawing on remarks made by four Somali traditional leaders during their April 27 meeting with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at Villa Somalia. Rather than treating those comments as routine expressions of support or criticism, they offer a useful window into the country’s institutional…

By Pranav Baskar and Matthew Mpoke BiggMonday May 4, 2026 A brazen seizure off Yemen has renewed fears that Somali pirates are regaining their footing — and raised fresh suspicions that they may be operating alongside Iran-backed Houthi rebels amid upheaval across the Middle East. Maritime police forces from the Puntland State region of Somalia patrolling the Gulf of Aden last year.Credit...Feisal Omar/Reuters Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker off Yemen’s coast on Saturday and steered it into Somali waters, authorities…