Abdirahman Abdishakur, leader of the opposition Wadajir Party, claims that Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble is under immense pressure from President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo to declare Jubbaland an “enemy-held territory.”
The opposition politician, who has already declared his intentions to vie in next year’s presidential elections, made these claims on Thursday, December 3.
His comments come at a time when the differences between Jubbaland and Mogadishu have forced Farmaajo’s administration to expel Kenya’s Ambassador to Somalia from the country with immediate effect.
For years, Mogadishu has accused of propping up the regional administration President Ahmed Islam Madobe of Jubbaland.
Last week, Madobe issued a fresh set of demands to be met for elections to take place in the region. Among these, he urged Farmaajo to release Gedo back to the local administration and remove all government-planted spies from the recently appointed electoral commissions.
On its part, the government of President Farmaajo accused Madobe of reneging on the agreement signed on September 17, 2020 between the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States (FMS).
Abdishakur urged Roble not to cede to Farmaajo’s demands. He said that the Prime Minister would be committing political suicide by treating or declaring Jubbaland an “enemy-held territory.”