Somalia’s president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, has signed a law extending his mandate for another two years, as the United States and its allies threaten Mogadishu with sanctions if the move creates further instability in the country.
The deviation extends a month-long election crisis after the national vote in February was delayed. Critics say Mohamed’s time in office is over. The international community had opposed an extension of the mandate and warned that the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group could benefit from the country’s heated political division.
Late on Tuesday, the president signed the controversial law after the lower house of parliament voted this week to effectively extend his term by two years while demanding direct elections during that time. However, Senate leaders called the vote illegal and Somalia’s opposition protested.
The United States is “deeply disappointed”, said Foreign Minister Antony Blinken in an overnight statement threatening the possibility of sanctions, visa restrictions and a reassessment of “our bilateral relations.” The statement called on the Somali federal government and regional states to return to talks on the election crisis as soon as possible.
The European Union warned that signing this week’s decision would divide Somalia into law and “pose a serious threat to peace and stability in Somalia and its neighbors”, and threatened to consider “concrete action” in response.
The UK said this week’s move “undermines the credibility of Somalia’s leadership” and threatened to work with international partners to “re-evaluate our relationship and the nature of our support for Somalia.”
In response, Somalia’s Foreign Ministry said it was concerned about “misleading and alarming statements” by some international partners, accusing them of “urging the Somali people against their legitimate government.”
The statement added that Somalia will “reject any attempt to use humanitarian aid to blackmail the country” without giving details. Somalia is heavily dependent on outside help to feed, protect and care for a large population displaced by insecurity and climate shock, as well as to train and equip its security forces.
In the capital Mogadishu, frustration deepened. “What happened can be explained as a coup d’état carried out by a group of people who were hungry for power for so long,” said civil society leader Abdullahi Mohamed Shirwa.
“This is just like the craziest political game.” For several months, the Somali government has been unable to reach an agreement on how to conduct the election, with the regional states of Puntland and Jubbaland objecting to certain issues and the international community warning against holding a by-election.
The crisis led to deadly violence against protesters who opposed an election delay. Controversial issues in months of talks on the electoral process included the formation of the Electoral Commission, the election of Commissioners for the deviant Somaliland region.
Somalia has not had a direct vote-by-vote for decades. The country began to fall apart in 1991 when warlords fired dictator Siad Barre and then turned against each other. Years of conflict and attacks by al-Shabab, along with famine, left this Horn of Africa country with about 12 million people largely crushed.
Al-Shabab controls large parts of southern and central Somalia and often targets the capital with suicide bombings. The extremist group has been a frequent target of US military air strikes.
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