peace

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump convened the inaugural meeting of his newly formed “Board of Peace” on Thursday in Washington, bringing together international figures to discuss the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the shape of a possible stabilization mission. The session focused on shoring up the truce and coordinating a reconstruction drive for Gaza. Trump said participating members collectively pledged $7 billion for rebuilding and that the United States would contribute an additional $10 billion, calling the…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is gathering a slate of foreign leaders in the U.S. capital to inaugurate the “Board of Peace,” a new initiative he casts as a vehicle to consolidate a fragile calm in Gaza and project an alternative model of U.S.-led crisis management far beyond the Middle East. About two dozen heads of state and senior officials are expected, including several of Trump’s closest ideological allies — among them Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Argentina’s President Javier Milei — but few of the…

GENEVA — Ukraine and Russia wrapped the first of two days of U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva after a night of Russian airstrikes that battered Ukraine’s energy grid, with President Donald Trump publicly pressing Kyiv to move quickly toward a deal to end the four-year war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight attacks severely damaged the power network in the southern port city of Odesa, leaving tens of thousands without heat and water. “We are ready to move quickly toward a worthy agreement to end the…

Trump says nations to pledge $5B for Gaza as strikes shatter fragile ceasefire President Donald Trump said member states of what he called the Board of Peace will announce more than $5 billion in pledges for reconstruction and humanitarian relief in Gaza at a meeting Thursday, alongside commitments of personnel for a United Nations–authorized stabilization force and local policing in the enclave. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the gathering — described as the group’s first official meeting — will be held at the…

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Somalia was elected Wednesday to the African Union Peace and Security Council for the 2026–2028 term, a diplomatic milestone that positions the Horn of Africa nation at the center of decision-making on the continent’s most urgent security challenges. In a statement, Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the vote reflects renewed confidence in Somalia’s role and its growing contribution to Africa’s peace and security agenda. The government thanked AU member states for their support, with…

Thursday February 12, 2026 MOGADISHU (AX) — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is set to travel to Addis Ababa for the 39th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government, where he will spotlight Somalia’s recent security gains and restate the country’s position on sovereignty and foreign interference. The summit brings together leaders from 55 African nations for the continent’s top political forum. Officials said the president is scheduled to address Somalia’s progress on security sector reform, the effects of…

MOGADISHU — Somalia has won a seat on the African Union Peace and Security Council for the 2026–2028 term, a diplomatic milestone that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Wednesday cast as proof of the country’s renewed standing on the continent and beyond. In a national address, Hassan Sheikh said the election reflects Somalia’s growing credibility and the reemergence of its voice in regional affairs after years of rebuilding state institutions. “This victory demonstrates the significant progress of Somalia’s diplomacy and…

Ukraine’s foreign minister said only U.S. President Donald Trump can close a deal to end the war with Russia and urged an in-person summit between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to settle the most sensitive points still blocking a cease-fire. “Only Trump can stop the war,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv, arguing that what remains of a 20-point peace framework must be decided at the leaders’ level. He said Kyiv wants to accelerate U.S.-brokered negotiations while momentum…

Russia said there had been “progress” in talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi as Kyiv accused Moscow of launching a “massive” overnight drone attack on railway infrastructure in the country’s north, underscoring the gulf between diplomatic messaging and battlefield realities nearly four years into the war. Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian negotiator, told state media that discussions in the United Arab Emirates were advancing. “There is definitely progress, things are moving forward in a good, positive direction,” he said on the second…

Analysis: How Somalia’s “family feud” shows sameness alone can’t secure peace Somalia appears, on paper, like a country built for cohesion. Nearly everyone is ethnically Somali, speaks Somali and practices Sunni Islam. Yet three decades after the state collapsed in 1991, the country remains trapped in fractious, often intimate violence. The paradox is instructive far beyond the Horn of Africa: shared identity does not guarantee stability. When institutions fail and rules disappear, homogeneity can magnify rivalries instead…