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April 18, 2021 Share
Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has signed into law an extension of his mandate and that of his government. The President signed the controversial law after the Lower House of the Parliament this week voted to effectively extend his mandate for two years while calling for direct elections during that time. Leaders of the Senate, however, called the vote illegal and Somalia’s opposition protested. The international community too has condemned the law extending the President’s tenure. The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in a statement that it was deeply distressed and that this move by Somalia threatened the possibility of sanctions, visa restrictions and a re-evaluation of “our bilateral relations.”
defenceWeb
Written by Reuters -
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Force members loyal to former Police Commander Sadaq Omar Hassan, also known as Sadaq John, gather with their equipment in the Black Sea area of Hodan district, in Mogadishu, Somalia 17 April 2021 - Reuters
Gunshots rang out late on Friday in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, witnesses said, when government troops approached the home of the city’s former police commander who was sacked for opposing a move by the president to extend his term.
The stand-off reveals splits within Somalia’s security services that threaten to see forces turn on each other, creating an opportunity for the al Qaeda linked al Shabaab insurgency to exploit.
A view of Somalia s capital, Mogadishu, from the sea. Credit: MDart10 / Shutterstock.com
A few days into the New Year, armed Somali intelligence officials were seen escorting guests into three bullet-proof cars at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International airport. An unusual quiet stretched through the capital’s normally busy main streets as the convoy snaked through cordoned-off roads towards Somalia’s presidential palace.
Local and international media reported that two foreign companies were arriving in Mogadishu to sign a “secret” historic oil deal with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), the first agreement of this kind since civil war erupted in the country in 1991. Opposition politicians wrote a letter to the president that warned against the “dangerous agreement” which they said raised concerns over transparency just a month ahead of the country’s first “one person, one vote” election since 1969.
By Liban A. Ahmad
The 4.5 powersharing system sinks the government, according to Amin Amir, the prominent Somali cartoonist
Two fun facts about the Somali politics give an insight into how state-building efforts in Somalia stall. The former President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called on Somali security forces to disobey the government (
desert could be the correct verb). The incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed told a Shabelle Television reporter that “it is pity that a foreign country is being consulted on Somalia’s security.” After all, is not Somalia dependent on foreign peacekeepers? Did not Kenya invade Somalia in 2011 on grounds of national security, and, in 2012 capture Kismayo from Al-shabaab? For the first time the International Community uncharacteristically underlined the potential security risks to Somalia’s neighbours if the political deadlock over elections continues.