What to know about fighting in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu

By Hussein Mohamed and Matthew Mpoke BiggHussein Mohamed reported from Mogadishu, Somalia, and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from Nairobi, Kenya.Friday June 5, 2026

Smoke drifted above Mogadishu on Thursday as heavy fighting engulfed parts of the Somali capital, where residents said the violence was the most intense in years. The U.S. Embassy called the clashes reckless and appealed for calm. Credit…Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Gunfire and explosions shook Somalia’s capital on Thursday, with residents describing the clashes as the worst the city has seen in years. Government troops were battling militia aligned with two of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s political rivals, according to residents and analysts.

The unrest, they said, grew out of Parliament’s bitterly disputed move to extend Mr. Mohamud’s term in office. The exact trigger for the fighting was unclear, but the president’s opponents had called protests for Thursday, and both their fighters and government forces had moved into close contact.

Here’s a look at the violence in the East African country and why it matters.

What happened?

Before daybreak on Thursday, people in Mogadishu, a city of roughly three million, said they heard sustained gunfire, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades from a district where government troops and armed loyalists of the president’s opponents had been building up for several days. Videos posted online showed streets nearly deserted and captured the crackle of gunfire and bursts of explosions.

There was no immediate word on casualties. Residents said the fighting was still under way Thursday afternoon, and some families in the capital were moving to districts they considered safer.

Fartun Da’ud, 27, a mother of two, said she no longer felt secure in the country. “I no longer trust that I can live in this country. No politician seems concerned about our safety,” she said.

“I’m worried about my children,” she added.

The violence erupted close to the homes of two opposition figures, former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and former Prime Minister Hassan Khayre. Both compounds also house their private security forces, turning them into key hubs of armed power in Mogadishu.

Samira Gaid, a political analyst based in the city, said the fighting began after government troops tried to push Mr. Khayre’s forces out of a neighborhood near the presidential palace.

Clan elders, who wield considerable influence in Somali politics, were attempting to broker a halt to the violence, Ms. Gaid said in an interview Thursday.

There had already been a smaller flare-up on Wednesday. That night, Mr. Ahmed said Mr. Mohamud had ordered “a sustained and indiscriminate military assault with the apparent objective of killing me.” In comments to journalists, he added, “If I have a single bullet left, any man that fires at me, I’ll fire back at him.”

What led to the fighting?

Frictions have been mounting since last month, when opposition leaders including Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Khayre said they would lead demonstrations on Thursday against what they called an unlawful extension of the president’s mandate.

Mr. Mohamud’s term was due to end on May 15. But in March, Somalia’s bicameral Parliament, with the president’s backing, voted to prolong his term by one year. Opposition lawmakers condemned the decision.

Talks backed by the United States and Britain in mid-May, intended to ease what had become a constitutional crisis, collapsed. Ms. Gaid said the negotiations began too late to make a difference.

Mr. Mohamud has portrayed the extension of his own term, and that of members of Parliament, as part of a broader push toward direct democracy, shifting Somalia away from the indirect system in which clans and regional leaders choose lawmakers and toward one-person-one-vote elections.

Opposition politicians, organizing under the name Somali Future Council, said the plan would only deepen the president’s grip on power and could not work in practice. They argued that many Somalis would effectively be shut out of voting because Al Shabab controls parts of the country.

On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy called the fighting reckless and urged restraint. “Somali leaders on all sides have a responsibility to preserve stability and resolve differences through peaceful means.” Other countries also pressed for dialogue.

Omar Mahmood, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the clashes were the “inevitable result of a lack of compromise.”

What is the wider context?

President Trump described Somalia in December as “not even a country.” Yet the Pentagon has continued to work with the government in Mogadishu, carrying out scores of airstrikes against militant targets in Somalia.

For 15 years, Somali politicians have been trying to build durable state institutions under a federal system after years without any internationally recognized central government — the hallmark of a failed state. Since 2012, the country has completed two full electoral cycles, although the end of the last one, in 2021, also brought serious clashes in Mogadishu.

The government remains under intense security pressure. It depends on an African Union peacekeeping force and the United Nations to help keep Al Shabab in check.

Last month, a report from the United Nations and aid organizations said about 1.88 million children in Somalia were expected to need treatment for acute malnutrition this year, while roughly six million people — about 30 percent of the population — faced acute food insecurity.

Even so, Somalia has taken on growing geopolitical importance, in part because of its position along the Gulf of Aden, near the Red Sea. Those waters are major arteries for global shipping and have become even more strategically important with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg is the East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Nairobi, Kenya.