Former NISA chief urges government to lift travel restrictions on MPs to Baidoa
“MP Murjaan and his team should be allowed to leave. Their being stuck in Mogadishu will not add anything,” Sanbaloolshe said. He argued that such restrictions serve no constructive purpose in the ongoing electoral process in Southwest State.
Tuesday March 24, 2026
Mogadishu (AX) — A dispute over who can move where has erupted into a fresh flashpoint in Somalia’s broader political standoff, as former National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) Director Abdullahi Mohamed Ali Sanbaloolshe urged federal authorities on Monday to stop blocking lawmakers and politicians from traveling to Baidoa.
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Sanbaloolshe called on the government to lift restrictions affecting federal lawmakers, naming MP Murjaan and his delegation among those reportedly prevented from flying from Mogadishu to Baidoa.
“MP Murjaan and his team should be allowed to leave. Their being stuck in Mogadishu will not add anything,” Sanbaloolshe said. He argued that such restrictions serve no constructive purpose in the ongoing electoral process in Southwest State.
To underscore his point, Sanbaloolshe said other political figures have already made it to Baidoa despite the reported obstacles, pointing to former Speaker of the House of the People Mohamed Mursal Sheikh Abdirahman, MP Aden Saran-Soor, and Hassan Abdi Nur. In his view, their arrival shows that travel bans imposed in Mogadishu are unlikely to derail electoral preparations in the regional capital.
Sanbaloolshe also leveled criticism at the current administration’s governing approach, calling it “inferior to the Farmaajo model,” a reference to the government led by former President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.
The comments land as tensions rise between Mogadishu and Baidoa, where Southwest State election preparations are continuing despite federal objections. Federal authorities have faced accusations of trying to obstruct the vote by restricting travel and increasing military deployments in parts of the region.
The confrontation intensified after Southwest State suspended ties with the federal government, accusing Mogadishu of meddling in regional political and security matters. The dispute centers on regional elections as well as recently approved constitutional amendments that extend the mandate of federal institutions from four to five years.