Security analysts have warned of the continued feud between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble saying the stand-off risks plunging the troubled Somalia into fresh crisis.
The rift between Farmajo and Roble intensified on Wednesday 8th September 2021 and both traded accusations and counter-accusations of abuse of power, a delicate unfolding of events that could catapult the Horn of Africa nation deeper into political crisis.
The two leaders have publicly rowed in recent days over key national security appointments, exposing fresh divisions in an administration that is behind on elections and threatened by Islamic State and Al-Qaeda aligned insurgents.
Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble infuriated President Farmajo after he sacked the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), Fahad Yasin over his handling of the high-profile disappearance of Ikran Tahlil Farah this week, and putting another man in charge, besides the NISA chief failure to deliver a report on the case of one of its agents who disappeared in June.
PM Roble blamed the President for undermining a closely watched inquiry into disappearance of a young intelligence officer, as the issue power struggle between their respective offices comes into the limelight. Roble appointed another man, Bashir Mohamed Jama, as interim head of NISA.
President Farmajo said the sacking of the NISA chief was illegal and unconstitutional and hence overruled his PM, naming another appointee to the top job, and appointing the fired intelligence chief as his national security adviser.
According to PM Roble, the move is a dangerous existential threat to the country’s governance system, describing the pattern of interference in the investigative remit of Somalia’s justice agencies as ill-intended.
The public spat has raised the political temperature in the capital Mogadishu, where military units close to Farmajo’s office were seen stationed outside NISA headquarters. The situation is tense, and many in the agency are confused now, some senior officials seem to have taken sides as per NISA sources. Analysts notes that the election impasse has distracted from Somalia’s larger problems, most notably a violent insurgency being waged by Al-Shabaab and pro-Islamic State faction operating in the Somali’s north.
