Mogadishu, SOMALIA – Plainclothes operatives from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) once again prevented a Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) MP from Southwest State from traveling to Baidoa. MP Mohamed Sheikh Abdullahi Irow was en route to attend his son’s funeral when he was blocked, marking the second such obstruction of Southwest State MPs in as many weeks. This incident underscores the deepening political crisis as the FGS continues its attempts to assert control over federal member states and stifle opposition to its increasingly controversial policies.
The clampdown on Southwest State MPs follows inflammatory remarks by senior FGS officials, including Deputy Minister Bashir Moalim Ali Hassan, who recently referred to the people of Southwest State as “illegitimate children of Ethiopian soldiers.” These remarks have sparked widespread outrage, symbolizing the FGS’s growing desperation to pressure regional states into aligning with its hardline stance on the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia, which has strained relations with key allies.
A Nation Divided
At the heart of this crisis lies the unresolved question of how power should be distributed between the central government in Mogadishu and the country’s federal member states, which have long chafed under what they see as the FGS’s heavy-handed and often arbitrary exercise of authority.
For Southwest State, the presence of Ethiopian troops on its soil has become a particularly contentious issue, with many in the region seeing the FGS’s demand for their withdrawal as a direct threat to their security and autonomy. Southwest State President Abdiaziz Laftagaren has been a vocal critic of the FGS’s stance on this issue, arguing that the Ethiopian troops are essential to maintaining stability in the face of the ongoing threat posed by Al-Shabaab and other extremist groups.
The FGS, for its part, has sought to portray Laftagaren and his allies as traitors to the Somali nation, accusing them of putting narrow regional interests ahead of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. This narrative has been bolstered by a sustained campaign of disinformation and intimidation, with FGS officials and their proxies in the media seeking to paint Southwest State as a pawn of foreign powers.
The blocking of Southwest State MPs from traveling to Baidoa is the latest salvo in this ongoing battle, with the FGS apparently calculating that by disrupting the normal functioning of the regional parliament, it can weaken Laftagaren’s support base and force him to capitulate to its demands. However, as with many of the FGS’s recent actions, this strategy is likely to backfire, further alienating the people of Southwest State and deepening the sense of grievance and mistrust that has long characterized relations between the center and the periphery in Somalia.
The Ethiopian Connection
The FGS’s demand for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Southwest State can be seen as part of a broader effort to assert Somalia’s sovereignty and independence in the face of what it sees as external interference and meddling. However, this narrative obscures the complex realities on the ground in Southwest State, where the presence of Ethiopian troops is seen by many as a necessary bulwark against the threat of Al-Shabaab and other extremist groups.
The FGS’s inflammatory rhetoric, including the deputy minister’s characterization of Southwest State residents as “illegitimate children,” only serves to further inflame these tensions and deepen the sense of alienation and marginalization that has long fueled conflict and instability in Somalia. By casting the people of Southwest State as somehow less than fully Somali, the FGS is not only betraying its own biases and prejudices but also undermining the very national unity and cohesion it claims to be defending.
