Mogadishu (AX) — A dispute over a reported power-sharing agreement has surfaced in Hirshabelle, with Vice President Yusuf Hagar Dabageed accusing President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of abandoning a pledge to hand the regional presidency to the Hawadle clan.
Dabageed made the allegation on Friday while addressing Hawadle elders and politicians in Mogadishu. He said a delegation led by Ugaas Yusuf Ugaas Hassan, and comprising politicians, businesspeople and elders, had raised the issue with President Hassan Sheikh three months earlier.
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The Hawadle community, he said, had promised not to oppose the federal government. In exchange, it expected the clan to be considered for the leadership of Hirshabelle once the transition period began.
Dabageed said President Hassan Sheikh subsequently assured the delegation that the Hirshabelle presidency would go to a candidate from the Hawadle community.
However, he said the president later met with him and other politicians separately and told them he had withdrawn that commitment.
“Three months later, the president met individually with me and other politicians and informed us that he had reneged on the promise made to the Hawadle and had instead awarded the Hirshabelle presidency to Ali Gudlawe,” Dabageed said.
The vice president said he had expected Hassan Sheikh, whom he described as a leader with an understanding of Hirshabelle’s political dynamics, to uphold the agreement.
“I regarded him as a president who would not break his word,” Dabageed said.
He added that he had not expected the president to alter an arrangement reached with Hawadle elders and political representatives.
“President Hassan Sheikh and I parted ways after I said: ‘I have no issue with my maternal kin, but please leave that seat to me,’” Dabageed said. “I asked, ‘If I secure it, will you give it to me?’ He replied, ‘I will give it to Hirshabelle President Ali Abdullahi Hussein Gudlawe.’ I told the president, ‘Man, I cannot yield that seat. I do not believe there is anyone else from the Hawadle clan who could step aside and let that happen.’”
Dabageed urged the Hawadle community to deliberate jointly, arguing that elders, politicians and members of the diaspora should all have a role in determining the clan’s political future.
His comments follow earlier reports that President Hassan Sheikh, Hawadle traditional leader Ugaas Yusuf Ugaas Hassan Ugaas Khalif and senior politicians had settled on a single community candidate for the forthcoming Hirshabelle presidential election.
People familiar with the talks said the participants later agreed to give the president authority to select the community’s candidate.
The presidential palace meeting came after several rounds of discussions between Hassan Sheikh and Hawadle leaders over the succession in Hirshabelle.
The talks formed part of a wider political understanding that the next Hirshabelle president would be drawn from the Hawadle community, while the incumbent, Ali Abdullahi Hussein Gudlawe, belongs to the Abgaal community.
