Somalia president says term not expired as opposition rejects his legitimacy

MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia plunged deeper into political uncertainty on Friday after outgoing President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared that his presidency would continue until May 15, 2027, despite the opposition insisting that his constitutional mandate had expired and that he no longer held legitimate authority.

The announcement came only hours after high-stakes negotiations between the federal government and opposition leaders collapsed at Mogadishu’s heavily fortified Halane compound, where diplomats from the United States and the United Kingdom had spent three days trying to broker a compromise over Somalia’s increasingly bitter constitutional and electoral dispute.

Addressing a gathering of young people on the anniversary of Somali Youth League Day, Mr. Mohamud insisted that the constitutional amendments recently approved by parliament had extended the presidential term from four years to five, effectively granting him another year in office. He portrayed the move as a national necessity rather than a personal ambition, arguing that the extension reflected decisions taken through state institutions and in the country’s broader interest.

His remarks immediately intensified an already volatile standoff with opposition figures, who argue that the amendments were unilateral, unconstitutional and designed to prolong his hold on power.

The talks at Halane, according to several participants, had reached an impasse almost from the outset. Over four rounds of discussions spread across three days, Mr. Mohamud reportedly maintained a rigid position, insisting that his mandate remained valid until 2027 and that Somalia would proceed toward a universal suffrage election under his administration.

The opposition representatives, which included Puntland President Saeed Abdullahi Deni and former Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, had pushed for a return to consensus-based politics and indirect elections, warning that the country lacked both the security and institutional capacity to organize a nationwide popular vote.

Mr. Deni later suggested that the president had entered the negotiations with little intention of compromise and that the discussions survived beyond the first day only because opposition figures wanted to exhaust every remaining opportunity for dialogue. According to opposition accounts, even the American and British mediators appeared increasingly discouraged as the negotiations dragged on without progress.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the discussions described an atmosphere of growing frustration inside the compound, where repeated attempts to narrow differences reportedly failed.

Hours after the talks collapsed, opposition leaders announced that they no longer recognized Mr. Mohamud as president, declaring that his constitutional mandate had expired at the end of his original term on Friday. They accused him of attempting to engineer a power grab by sidelining the constitution and warned that Somalia had entered a dangerous and unpredictable phase.

The crisis has exposed widening fractures within Somalia’s fragile federal system and raised fears of renewed instability in a country still battling a resilient Islamist insurgency and deep political fragmentation.

In a statement issued Friday, the federal government reaffirmed its intention to hold one-person, one-vote elections across the country, presenting the plan as a historic democratic transition after decades of clan-based indirect voting.

Yet critics questioned how such an election could realistically be organized in a country where the federal government exercises uneven authority beyond the capital.

The self-declared republic of Somaliland remains entirely outside Mogadishu’s control, while authorities in Puntland and Jubaland have openly rejected the federal electoral process. Tensions have also escalated with the administration in Galmudug, where political relations with Mogadishu have deteriorated sharply.

Large areas of southern and central Somalia remain under the influence or direct control of the militant group Al-Shabaab, whose fighters continue to operate near major towns and strategic roads. African Union peacekeepers still play a critical role in protecting government institutions and securing parts of Mogadishu, underscoring the fragility of state authority.

The opposition has seized on those realities to argue that the push for universal suffrage is less a democratic project than a mechanism to extend presidential rule indefinitely. Critics have also questioned why the administration failed to organize direct elections before the expiration of the original presidential term if the government had genuinely intended to implement them.

The political dispute has revived painful memories of earlier constitutional crises that repeatedly pushed Somalia toward instability after years of painstaking international efforts to rebuild state institutions following civil war.

Western partners, regional actors and the African Union now face mounting pressure to intervene diplomatically before tensions escalate further. International donors and security partners have long underwritten Somalia’s fragile political order, supporting successive governments through indirect elections while financing security operations against Islamist insurgents.

Analysts warn that the current standoff risks unraveling that already delicate arrangement.

Adding to the confusion surrounding the negotiations were remarks Mr. Mohamud reportedly made to a group of Somali TikTok influencers shortly before returning to the talks. In videos circulating online, he appeared unwavering in his determination to press ahead with universal suffrage elections, brushing aside every effort to persuade him to change course, before the negotiations collapsed less than an hour after they resumed.

The tense messaging deepened perceptions of political drift at a moment when Somalia appears to be entering one of its most precarious periods in recent years.

With the opposition refusing to recognize the president’s authority, regional administrations openly defiant and security threats mounting across the country, Somalia now faces the prospect of a prolonged constitutional confrontation with no clear mechanism for resolution.

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