Huge demonstrations against the incumbent government of President Farmajo shook a number of districts in the federal capital of Mogadishu.
The demonstrations were mainly concentrated on the northern side of the city where opposition parties draw the widest support.
The composition of the demonstrators was somewhat different from similar incidents in times past which were usually organized and paid for as these were said to have been more spontaneous.
Demonstrators, also, unlike their predecessors were of all ages and of all walks of life.
Security forces summoned to contain the demonstrators before they reached anywhere near Villa Somalia and surrounding areas where government installations are concentrated opened live fire on the demonstrators.
This resulted in many of the districts becoming off-limits to the government and its forces.
In many of the northern districts such as Yaqshid, civilians took up arms against the administration. Armed militias could be seen freely taking command of all approaches daring the government to come and disarm them.
The demonstrators accused the government of dictating terms favorable to its longevity in office.
Placards and shouted slogans decried how the government of President Farmajo was forcing elections/selections whose terms it dictated in complete abrogation and departure of agreed road map and procedures.
President Farmajo has succeeded in installing puppet governments in three of the five federal member states: Galmudug, Hirshabelle, and Southwest.
This time around, Farmajo openly used government resources and misplaced international financial support and goodwill to attempt to tilt all selections across the five member states to his favor. He handpicked their election committees and populated them, in most cases, with intelligence and government operatives whose payrolls he signed.
Only Jubaland and Puntland reneged seeing through his tactics.
In an attempt to reverse the stand of these two states he sent hordes of heavily armed troops to the first and his prime minister to the latter.
In an unrelated but equally portraying how the security of even the capital is not in government hands, security officers in government employ exchanged fire at Fagah junction at the city’s business center.
the two sides were separated but neither left the area. Reports say that both sides were regrouping and anything could happen within the coming few hours.
A few days earlier, the confederation of opposition elements put together a unified security detail commanded by a brigadier-general in fear of their lives.
This development, alone, demonstrated the level of mistrust between Farmajo’s administration and the very civilians he was supposedly elected to protect.
This comes at a time, Somalia leaders are leaping from one folly to another in both internal and international arenas.
These events are happening only a few hours after Villa Somalia, through its ministry of information, declared that it had severed relations with Kenya – a country whose troops had shed blood losing hundreds of its soldiers in the protection of the teetering failed state.
The Kenya Defense forces lost over one hundred soldiers in El Adde alone in April 2016 when they were over-run by Shabaab fighters.
The KDF came to Somalia aid in October 2011 and has over 3600 troops still stationed there combating Al-Shabaab on running engagements.
