Fighting erupted on Wednesday between Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubbaland region and federal government forces after Jubbaland held an election against the advice of authorities in Mogadishu, officials said.
The clashes will raise concerns that internal rivalries are diverting attention from the fight against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group just as the mandate of an African Union peacekeeping force expires.
“This morning, federal forces from Mogadishu in Ras Kamboni, using drones, attacked Jubbaland forces,” Adan Ahmed Haji, assistant security minister of Jubbaland, told a press conference in the regional capital Kismayu.
Somalia’s Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said the Jubbaland forces initiated the clashes.
“Early this morning (Wednesday), Jubbaland forces attacked the Somali federal military troops that were deployed in Lower Jubba to take bases withdrawn from by ATMIS,” he said in a statement.
In late November, Jubbaland – which borders Kenya and Ethiopia and is one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states – re-elected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe to a third term.
The national government in Mogadishu, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, opposed the election, saying it was held without federal involvement.
As the election dispute escalated, the federal government issued an arrest warrant for Madobe, while Jubbaland issued a reciprocal one for President Mohamud.
Major Aden Nur, a federal army officer in Mogadishu, said Wednesday’s fighting was in an area 20 km from Ras Kamboni, a town where federal troops have increased their numbers since the election.
“So far federal forces captured four technical (gun-mounted pickup) vehicles from Jubbaland forces. Fighting is going on far from Ras Kamboni. There are casualties on both sides but no exact figure,” Nur told Reuters.
In the wider fight against al Shabaab, the mandate of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) expires in less than three weeks and no agreement has been reached on which countries will contribute to the follow-on peacekeeping mission or how it will be financed.
Jubbaland is seen as the breadbasket of Somalia and Kismayu is an important port. Its shoreline delineates a contested maritime zone, with potential oil and gas deposits.
In 2021, Kenya rejected a U.N. court ruling that decided mostly in favor of Somalia in the row but said it would pursue a diplomatic solution.
