SOMALI OPPOSITION FIGHTERS CAPTURE AREAS NEAR PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN MOGADISHU

Mon 26 April 2021:

Pro-opposition forces have seized control over areas surrounding the presidential palace in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu during an ongoing assault on the city, the news website Garowe Online reported on Monday.

Earlier in the day the country’s prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, called for dialogue to resolve the latest political crisis. The UN mission to the country made a similar plea regarding the situation in the capital.

Somalia’s homeland security minister, Hassan Hundubey Jimale, expressed condolences to all victims but did not say how many people had been killed or wounded. He accused “some people who are not interested in the security of their people” of launching an attack in Mogadishu and said security forces had repulsed them.

According to the news outlet, military vehicles could be seen on the city’s main streets this morning.

Meanwhile, the Goobjoog News website reports that several universities have shut down owing to the violence in the capital.

On Friday, the UN Security Council called on all sides “to reject violence and resume dialogue as a matter of urgency and without precondition”, underscoring its concern over the country’s political crisis.

“The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern about the continued political impasse and disagreement among Somalia’s political leaders on the model for elections,” the document said.

The Security Council on March 31, following an urgent meeting, had called on Somali authorities to resolve the dispute over the electoral process.

On Sunday, Somalian armed forces supporting the opposition seized several key areas in northern Mogadishu in the wake of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed granting himself two more years in office earlier in the month.

The country has been struggling to restore political instability since the early 1990s, when a civil war erupted between clan-based armed groups. There are de facto self-controlled breakaway regions in the country’s north and east, while the internationally recognized Federal government in Mogadishu controls the center and south.