The Somali capital Mogadishu has been on lockdown since Wednesday amid clashes between federal troops loyal to President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud and forces opposed to his prolonged stay in power.
President Mohamud’s official term expired on May 15 but he had vowed to stay on after constitutional amemdments which his opponents condemned as a ploy to usurp power.
The unrest comes as th opposition prepare to stage a demonstration against Mohamud’s continued hold onto power.
As plumes of smoke envelope Mogadishu, residents have been fleeing as sporadic skirmishes continue in districts of the federal capital, threatening the country’s precarious stability.
Witnesses say the clashes which had lasted over 20 hours resulted in civilian casualties, prompting others to flee their homes as a fresh humanitarian crisis unfolds amid the political clashes.
The African Union has condemned the clashes and called on both sides to exercise maximum restraint.
The epicentre of the clashes which continued into Thursday, are Mogadishu’s Holodag district, where artillery fire had targeted the residence of former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, and Merinayo district in the Abdiaziz region, a stronghold of former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Both Khaire and Ahmed vehemently reject President Mohamud’s extended term by a year following a controversial constitutional amendment to that effect.
President Mohamud has accused Khaire of raiding a police station in Holodag but the former prime minister countered that his residence was fire-bombed as his movement planned to hold street protests against the government.
Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, a former ally of Mohamu, and ex president of Somalia’s South West State is also strongly opposed to his prolonged term, which he regards as unconstitutional.
An erstwhile member of the ruling Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) Laftagareen fell out with President Mohamud over what he called federal interference in his state and briefly defied an ultimatum to make way for a new leadership in the South West State before quitting after muscular pressure from Mogadishu.
Two opposition groups leading the charge against President Mohamud are the Somalia Future Council and the Somalia Rescue Forum who accuse him of staging an overthrow of the constitution.
Mohamud loyalists maintain that amendments extending his term until May 2027 are ”within legal parametres”.
Meanwhile, there are growing fears that the current instability could create a security vacuum which the militant sect al-Shabaab may exploit to destablise Mogadishu.
Somali federal troops and a hybrid African Union force have been battling the insurgents since 2006.
WN/as/APA