MOGADISHU (AFP) -- Somalia’s neighbors and Western countries have expressed alarm over an intensifying row between the country’s president and prime minister as heavily armed factions patrolled parts of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, raising fears that the political crisis could erupt into violence.
Soldiers loyal to the prime minister took up positions near the presidential palace a day after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, announced the suspension of Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who accused him of an “attempted coup”.
Relations between the pair have long been frosty, but the latest developments have sparked concerns for Somalia’s stability as the country struggles to hold long-delayed elections and fight a jihadist insurgency.
On Tuesday, pro-Roble troops paraded the streets, fuelling fear among Mogadishu residents weary of armed confrontations.
“They are not far away from the main security checkpoints of the presidential palace, they are armed with heavy machine guns and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades)”, Saido Mumin, a resident, told AFP.
Another local, Abdukadir Ahmed, said that although the situation appeared to be calm, he was “really worried” about the potential for violence.
International observers have urged both sides to resolve the escalating dispute while some Somali traditional elders and politicians have also sought to calm tempers.
A coalition of opposition presidential candidates on Tuesday urged Farmajo to vacate his office immediately and called for “an urgent investigation and legal charges against Farmajo and anyone who helped him in staging the coup”.
Farmajo has accused Roble of interfering with a probe into a land-grabbing case and withdrawn his mandate to organize elections.
Roble in turn has accused Farmajo of attempting to sabotage the vote.
International observers including the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the European Union, and the United Nations, released a statement late Monday, urging the political leadership “to put the country’s interests first”.
“International partners have repeatedly expressed growing concern over procedural irregularities and delays in the Somali electoral process,” the statement said.
In April, Farmajo sought to extend his term without holding fresh elections, triggering deadly gun battles in Mogadishu.
Roble then brokered a new timetable to a vote, but in the months that followed, the pair’s bitter rivalry derailed the polls again.
They only agreed to bury the hatchet in October, and issued a unified call for the glacial election process to accelerate.
Somalia’s elections follow a complex indirect model. Nearly 30,000 clan delegates are assigned to choose 275 MPs for the lower house while five state legislatures elect senators for the upper house.