MOGADISHU, Somalia – Ahmed Madobe, the President of Jubaland, is preparing a military response to defend his leadership against Somali National Army (SNA) units deployed to Raskamboni, a town located 274km south of Kismayo, where his presidential compound is based.
The SNA forces are mobilizing for an operation aimed at removing Madobe from office, with plans to arrest him and bring him to Mogadishu to stand trial. A court in the capital has issued an arrest order over allegations of defying Somalia’s unified electoral system and charges of treason.
Reliable sources say Madobe has placed the highest-ranking officer of the Birjeex brigade, along with several other senior officials, under house arrest, suspecting them of links to Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, who has rejected Madobe’s re-election and called for his arrest.
Security analysts predict the possibility of armed confrontation as Madobe gave President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government a 15-day ultimatum to withdraw all troops from Jubaland. Despite this demand, the government is determined to remove him from office and detain him.
Madobe has also lost confidence in his own army, as many of the soldiers he deployed to Raskamboni surrendered to the SNA to avoid bloodshed. Over 120 defected soldiers were flown to Mogadishu on Saturday after being airlifted from Raskamboni.
Some of the remaining troops, however, are reportedly reluctant to fight and prefer to surrender to the federal government. Madobe is pressuring them to engage in combat. On Sunday, dozens of his soldiers, traveling on four boats, reportedly defected.
In response, Jubaland’s Minister of Information, Abdifatah Mukhtar, denied the reports of defections, calling them “fake news” with “ill intent.” He clarified that those seen defecting were actually SNA forces deployed to the region, acting as if they were Jubaland forces surrendering.
Mukhtar also urged the Somali government to stop spreading misinformation and misleading the public. He reiterated that Jubaland’s forces are ready to defend their leadership against any threats posed by the government in Mogadishu.
Tensions have been escalating since last Monday, when President Mohamud’s government declared Madobe’s re-election invalid and deployed hundreds of soldiers to the Lower Jubba region to remove him from office. Madobe, however, sees his re-election as constitutional and has sent his own military units to the region to block the incoming troops, viewing them as a threat to his leadership.
