MOGADISHU, Somalia Apr 5, 2013 (Garowe Online) - Confidential sources in Mogadishu, Galkayo and London have informed Garowe Online that Somalia’s federal government is “pursuing leadership change” in Galmudug administration of central Somalia, Garowe Online reports.
According to the reliable sources, advisers of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud have contacted former politician Hussein Mohamed Aideed in London to “assume leadership in Galmudug”.
Since 2012, Galmudug authority in central Somalia has been mired in a leadership dispute, with Gen. Abdi Qeybdiid emerging as the most powerful political figure in Galmudug in recent months.
In March 2013, Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon visited south Galkayo and held meetings with Mr. Qeybdiid, but Qeybdiid’s office later issued a public statement criticizing Prime Minister Shirdon’s policies.
“President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s advisers are unsatisfied with [Abdi] Qebydiid. They have pursued and attempted to encourage Hussein Aideed to return to politics from exile in London,” said one reliable source in Mogadishu.
The source predicted that such effort “would lead to further destabilization” in central regions of Somalia. Galmudug and other regions of central Somalia are already struggling with the threat of Al Shabaab extremists, piracy gangs, and clan conflict over land and resources .
The source's claim could not be independently verified.
Qeybdiid has demanded that the Somali Federal Government recognize his leadership as President of Galmudug, and that Galmudug is a “state” that satisfies the criteria of the Somali Federal Constitution. But federal leaders in Mogadishu have been “unsatisfied” with Qeybdiid’s position, the source adds.
