A coordinated military effort between the United States and Nigeria has resulted in the death of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-highest leader of Daesh globally, in a significant operation in Nigeria, officials from both countries announced on Friday. According to U.S. President Donald Trump and the Nigerian military, al-Minuki, placed under U.S. sanctions since 2023, held the position of second-in-command in Daesh worldwide. "This evening, under my directive, courageous American forces, alongside the Nigerian Armed…

Sunday May 17, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Saturday mounted a forceful defense of Somalia’s push for one-person, one-vote elections, arguing that the country’s indirect voting system has too often fueled violence, arrests and political uncertainty. Addressing the public in Mogadishu, Mohamud said Somalia needs to leave behind a model in which political representatives are chosen through clan-based, indirect arrangements. He said direct voting would allow citizens to select their leaders without…

Nimi PrincewillSaturday May 16, 2026 An armed Somali pirate stands on the shoreline as a Greek cargo ship lies anchored off Hobyo in northeastern Somalia, in this January 2010 image after the vessel was seized by pirates. Mohamad Dahir/AFP/Getty Images Somali pirates are once again cashing in on turmoil far beyond their waters. As war in Iran forces commercial shipping to take longer routes around Africa, vessels are drifting straight into the pirates’ traditional hunting grounds. The escalating conflict in the Middle East…

Saturday May 16, 2026 Photo: Somali regional state The Somali Regional State Disaster Risk Management Bureau has dismissed reports portraying Ethiopia’s Somali Region as gripped by drought, saying the picture presented is outdated and fails to reflect the improvement brought by the current Gu rains. In a statement sent to Addis Standard, the Bureau said it had reviewed recent coverage that pointed to malnutrition, drought and acute water shortages across the region. It acknowledged that climate-related vulnerabilities remain…

Saturday May 16, 2026 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the global second-in-command of ISIS, had been killed in an operation carried out by U.S. and Nigerian forces. “Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did…

Saturday May 16, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s federal government on Friday said it will press ahead with one-person, one-vote elections, insisting the country has entered a new democratic chapter after three days of talks with opposition leaders collapsed without a deal. The Ministry of Information said the government was carrying out its constitutional obligation to organize free and fair elections that give citizens the right to vote and stand for office. The announcement followed negotiations in Mogadishu between the…

Saturday May 16, 2026 UNICEF/UN0591078/Taxta On 3 February 2022 in Somalia, a child feeds on a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) packet while his mother holds him waiting to receive assistance at Community Empowerment and Development Action Health Centre in Dolow. Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s most vulnerable children are being pushed to the front of a deepening global hunger emergency, with aid agency CARE warning that conflict in the Middle East and the disruption of major shipping lanes are driving up the price of…

Saturday May 16, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — The United Nations mission in Somalia has welcomed the return of talks among Somali political leaders, while warning that the latest round of negotiations failed to settle the core disputes surrounding the country’s political transition. The United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia UNTMIS said Saturday that discussions held from May 13 to 15 marked an important step forward and commended the international partners who backed the effort. “It is regrettable, however,…

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…