SOMALIA IN FOCUS:Electoral fiasco, rising terror attacks and COVID-19 resurgence

By T. Roble

The bombing in Mogadishu Friday night yet again, absent the thinking of the country’s leadership, demonstrate the breadth and length the militant group Al-Shabaab will go in leveraging on the electoral fiasco that has now seen both Parliament and the President stay in office illegally.

Medical sources have put the death toll at 20 with over 30 others injured in the Yamani Restaurant attack near the port of Mogadishu. This is the third major terror attack in Mogadishu in two months and second, since the term of Mohamed Farmaajo as President came to a close on February 8.

LOCKDOWN IN MOGADISHU

The bombing Friday came barely 12 hours after security forces mounted roadblocks on major roads in the city especially KM4 and Maka Al Makurama road in anticipation of opposition protests which were slated for Saturday. The Council of Presidential Candidates (CPC) however called off the protests on grounds that the government was intending to block their security teams from protecting the venue and securing the demos.

Security Minister Hassan Hundubay ruled out protests without government security. It is noteworthy that the CPC and Prime Minister Mohamed Roble had settled on this matter last week giving the sole mandate to the government forces to secure protests but the collapse of the talks have since reversed that milestone.

FAILED PM-CPC TALKS

The failure of the talks between Roble and the CPC which have been billed as ‘most constructive by the international community, western diplomats and locally was perhaps the biggest loss for Somalia’s quest to ending the six months-long stalemate.

The first and second talks ended with commitments from both sides which included the formation of a probe committee on February 19 on alleged assassination attempts by security forces of CPC members and another committee to work on modalities for protests which were subsequently delayed for ten days.

But the Thursday meeting which ran into the wee hours of Friday eroded all gains made thus far. Sources told Goobjoog News and later confirmed by the opposition that Roble was under intense pressure from Farmaajo’s faction to ‘go slow’ on the talks. Wadajir Party leader Abdirahman Abdishakur and a key CPC member told journalists in a late-night presser Roble was being directed from Villa Somalia and was ‘receiving SMS’ from Farmaajo’s men during the meeting.

The failed talks is also a slap on the face of the international community especially the UN and the US which have, for the longest steered clear of pressing Farmaajo and turned deaf ears on opposing views.

FARMAAJO-FMS CIRCUS

The long-running talks between Farmaajo and the Federal Member States have no doubt exhausted the country and delivered no progress. The sixth round of talks called by Farmaajo in late February once again failed to commence following what a section of FMS’ and the CPC termed as ‘mischief’ on the part of Farmaajo. Villa Somalia convened the meeting for March 4, the same day the CPC was to meet for the third time.

COVID-19 AND HUNGER

Amid the endless political squabbling, the COVID-19 pandemic is fast spreading in the country and claiming lives at unprecedented levels since it made landfall in March 2020. The second wave has once again, in a more pronounced form put to test the country’s ability to respond amidst existing threats such as the desert locust invasion, biting droughts and food shortage and rising Al-Shabaab attacks.

The Ministry of Health recorded 20 deaths in a single day on Saturday taking the official death toll to 294. Daily messages of condolences on social media, also point to a possible high death rate from COVID-19 unlikely captured in government data.

Hunger remains a cyclical challenge in the country. Reports from Gedo region point to extreme hunger and starvation that have pushed populations to the brink. Similar reports are also being recorded in various parts of the country.

All these challenges are likely to persist and worsen as prospects of an electoral and political deal become elusive by the day.