African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
PoliticsSomalia
Home›African Arguments›Politics›What’s behind the protests and unrest in Somalia?

What’s behind the protests and unrest in Somalia?

By Mohammed Ibrahim Shire
February 22, 2021
1498
0
Supporters of different Somali opposition presidential candidates protest over delayed elections in Mogadishu on February 19, 2021. Credit: AFP via Getty Images.

Somali troops have clashed with opposition supporters in Mogadishu amid growing anger over delayed elections.

Supporters of different Somali opposition presidential candidates protest over delayed elections in Mogadishu on February 19, 2021. Credit: AFP via Getty Images.

Supporters of different Somali opposition presidential candidates protest over delayed elections in Mogadishu on February 19, 2021. Credit: AFP via Getty Images.

A week ago an alliance of Somali opposition leaders called for anti-government protests. The coalition includes former Somali presidents and ministers, many with diverging interests and agendas. The government banned the planned protest citing a recent COVID-19 surge as a reason. But it was later allowed, provided that the protests were peaceful and participants adhered to the country’s public health and social measures.

But the day before the planned protests things took a downward turn. Somalia’s constitution guarantees the right to peaceful demonstrations. At the same time the government sees it as its duty to police the protests. This is to ensure that participants are protected from disruption by others – especially Al-Shabaab.

The opposition alliance, however, refused police protection and instead deployed their own armed militias. Some belonged to Yusuf Mohammed Siad – also known as Indha’ade – a controversial figure and a former warlord.

In response, government banned the planned protest, arguing that state duties couldn’t be delegated to armed militias. The ban exacerbated simmering tensions and led to gun battle in the capital overnight. Both sides traded accusations over the unprovoked street attacks.

Nevertheless, the opposition pushed ahead with the planned protest, defying the ban on public gatherings. This turned into a confrontation as protesters clashed with security forces.

How did we get to this point?

Somalia’s current disarray stems from the failure of the federal government and leaders of the five federal states to agree on the implementation of the 17 September revised election model.

Somalia has a unique electoral system built around a clan-based model. Clan elders indirectly choose the Lower House members, while the five federal states elect the Upper House members. Members of both houses select a president, who then nominates a prime minister.

In February 2020, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (aka Farmaajo) signed a new electoral law to establish universal suffrage. This provoked cries of protest from the opposition, who argued that it would not be feasible to hold a one-person-one-vote poll without introducing a term extension for Farmaajo.

This view was backed by Halima Ismail, chairwoman of the National Independent Electoral Commission. She told parliament in June that conducting national elections under the new model would require a delay until August 2021.

A series of national consultative meetings were held between government and regional leaders to try and resolve the issue. An informal agreement materialised that resulted in abandoning the one-person, one-vote model, and instead adopting a complex indirect system used in the past. This involves delegates chosen by clan elders electing lawmakers who then elect the president.

All parties finally signed up to a electoral framework. The Somali parliament approved the revised electoral model, legalising and superseding the February electoral model as the framework for the 2020-2021 elections.

However, as government and regional leaders embarked on moving from the design phase to the implementation phase, many disagreements came to the fore. In particular, three contentious issues emerged that brought everything to a standstill.

The first one is the make up of the Federal Electoral Implementation Team. As soon as the Somali government appointed the team, federal state members such as Puntland and Jubbaland rejected it. They accused the government of filling it with government members drawn from the office of the president, security agencies and the diplomatic corps.

The second contentious topic is who would manage the parliamentary seats of Somaliland.

The third stumbling block was how to handle the 16 parliamentary seats allocated for Gedo province in Jubbaland state. The Jubbaland administration in Kismayo remains hugely unpopular in Gedo and parts of the Jubba regions. Residents argue that the Jubbaland administration is supported by neighbouring Kenya and does not represent the people of Jubbaland.

This tension occurred against the backdrop of a broader geopolitical dynamic between Somalia and Kenya. Somalia accuses Kenya of political meddling in the Jubbaland state, and sponsoring and harbouring fugitive Jubbaland minister, Abdirashid Janan. Kenya denies the charge.

What next?

The only feasible solution is to ensure that the 17 September deal is implemented. In theory, all parties have agreed on this revised electoral model, but it’s hampered by the three contentious issues.

A 14-member technical committee set up to resolve these issues announced that it had found ways to resolve the electoral impasse. It has called for an urgent meeting of the government and regional leaders. The Somali government has agreed and called for an urgent meeting in Mogadishu.

It’s a good sign that Somalia’s international partners have also welcomed the technical committee’s solutions. That said, it’s up to the Somali government and regional leaders to agree and adopt the proposed solutions and hold elections as soon as possible.The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


 

Previous Article

Eritrea’s Silent War

Next Article

More Stories about Mother’s Splashing Cunt and ...

mm

Mohammed Ibrahim Shire

Mohammed Ibrahim Shire is a Lecturer in Security and Risk at the University of Portsmouth.

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Politics

    Why Liberia’s Proposed Dual Citizenship Legislation Should Be Based on Evidence, Not Sentiments – By Robtel Neajai Pailey

  • CultureEast

    The League of Extravagant Grannies, and other East African Creatives to Watch

  • Politics

    Ghana: economic nationalism through petty trading laws – By Kissy Agyeman-Togobo, Songhai Advisory

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81.7K+
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Recent Posts

  • The unaccountability of Liberia’s polluting miners
  • Africa Elections 2023: All the upcoming votes
  • “Poking the Leopard’s Anus”: Legal Spectacle and Queer Feminist Politics
  • Introducing Parselelo and a new climate focus
  • The ‘Hustler’ Fund: Kenya’s Approach to National Transformation

Editor’s Picks

Editor's PicksPoliticsZambia

Zambia’s democracy is still under attack

But now by President Hichilema, the man who vowed to rescue it. When Hakainde Hichilema won Zambia’s August 2021 election, many hoped the assault on democracy that had characterised his ...
  • Sudan constitution. Friday service at the Hamed al-Nil tomb in Omdurman, Sudan. Credit: Carsten ten Brink.

    Sudan’s misguided fixation with finding a transformative constitution

    By Aida Abbashar
    October 5, 2022
  • Some amazing African documentaries, picked with help from Film Africa.

    Amazing African documentaries you’re gonna wanna see

    By Sally Zohney, James Wan, Adam Matan, Oumar Ba & Ketty Nivyabandi
    October 23, 2018
  • angola elections The Cidade Alta in Luanda, Angola. Credit: David Stanley.

    The real winners of Angola’s election

    By Cláudio Silva
    September 14, 2022
  • A snapshot from NTV's coverage of Daniel arap Moi's funeral on 11 February.

    The performance of mourning Moi

    By Isaac Otidi Amuke
    February 12, 2020

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu