It Is Al-Shabaab or JSP, Says Fiqi

Somalia’s Defense Minister, Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, has caused a stir after saying only two groups are really fighting for control of the country: the armed militant group Al-Shabaab and the ruling Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP). Speaking at a public event in Hul-Caduur, near Ceeldheer in central Somalia, Fiqi said everyone else in politics is “just bread,” meaning they aren’t worth taking seriously.

The comment lands at a tense moment. Somalia’s government is locked in a growing dispute with opposition politicians led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, while also fighting a long war against Al-Shabaab, a group that still holds large areas of southern and central Somalia. By mentioning a banned terrorist organization in the same breath as his own party, Fiqi has people wondering whether he accidentally gave Al-Shabaab a kind of political legitimacy or whether he was simply using strong language to argue that the opposition doesn’t matter.

Fiqi has held several senior government posts over the years, including foreign minister and interior minister, and he’s known for blunt, combative speeches. Addressing the crowd directly, he said: “The two parties competing for this country are Al Shabaab and the JSP.” He then dismissed the rest of Somalia’s political landscape, adding that everyone else was “just bread.”

He gave no indication that the government’s military campaign against Al-Shabaab is changing in any way. Al-Shabaab is officially designated a terrorist group by Somalia, the United States, the United Nations, and many other countries.