MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – After serving his four year term, Somalia president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s mandate has expired on Monday with many of the country’s political stakeholders saying they do not recognize him as the country’s legitimate leader and calling for his resignation.
The president is accused of willfully reneging on the September 17 2020 electoral deal with the regional state leaders that required elections to be held before the end of his tenure.
Protracted disputes over a number of issues delayed the elections. It was earlier expected the elections of the two houses of parliament to be held before the presidential election. The parliament’s mandate expired on December and the president’s term ended on February 8 while efforts to hold elections are yet to gather pace.
Any move by Somalia’s president to extend his term risks undermining security and joint Somali and African Union forces’ efforts to defend the government’s seat of power from the militant group Al-Shabaab.
There have been reports that security forces have not been paid for two months and many of them have begun robbing residents in the streets of Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country while insecurity spirals out of control.
Somalia is now headed towards a period of uncertainty, all of the government’s institutions serving beyond their constitutional terms, opposition planning to form a transitional government and the international community just looking on without a clear plan on saving the country from sliding back into another civil war.
Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo had already confirmed loosing trust in the country’s international partners, alleging that their interference caused delay in the polls and called for his nation not to listen to “what foreigners dictate”.
The country’s future now seems to be on the balance and the incumbent president’s bid to cling to power is feared to open the door for another civil war as clan militias and members of the army had already put their support behind the opposition.
Opposition leaders have called on the armed forces not to take orders from a government whose term ended.
Any flare-up in Somalia also threatens broader repercussions with the Horn of Africa region already in a volatile situation and fighting raging in neighboring Ethiopia.
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