Turjumaad ayaa la diyaarinayaa

MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A deep and dangerous political rift has opened at the very heart of Somalia’s security architecture, threatening to plunge yet another regional state into violent confrontation with the federal government.

The escalating crisis centers on a bitter fall-out between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and one of his most powerful security chiefs, Mahad Salad, the director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency. The high-stakes dispute erupted into the public eye following Mr. Salad’s decision to run for the presidency of the central Galmudug regional state, directly defying the federal leadership’s plans to install its own chosen candidate.

In a sequence of tense, late-night meetings at the presidential palace in Mogadishu, which later drew in Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, the country’s top leadership failed to resolve the impasse. President Mohamud reportedly issued an ultimatum to his intelligence chief, demanding absolute loyalty to the ruling party’s anointed candidate, Liban Ahmed Hassan, a politically connected figure widely known as Liban Shuluq. Mr. Salad was told in no uncertain terms to back the official line or face dismissal.

The intelligence chief countered with a series of sweeping conditions. He demanded either his own endorsement for the regional presidency, a complete halt to federal efforts to oust the incumbent Galmudug leader, or a guaranteed free, fair, and inclusive election. The demands highlight growing domestic unease over the federal government’s heavy-handed electoral strategies. Observers point to recent interventions in South West State, where federal authorities deployed significant political pressure to engineer a highly controlled election that favored a single, loyal candidate.