{"id":11820,"date":"2026-06-03T13:21:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/?p=11820"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T13:22:54","slug":"gunfire-erupts-in-mogadishu-before-protests-against-somali-presidents-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/?p=11820","title":{"rendered":"Gunfire erupts in Mogadishu before protests against Somali president\u2019s rule."},"content":{"rendered":"

Wed 3,June 2026 {CBB} <\/strong>Heavy gunfire has broken out in central Mogadishu as Somalia\u2019s former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire says he has been attacked by government forces before planned protests.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn attack was launched against us by forces commanded by the president whose term has expired,\u201d Khaire said in a social media post on Wednesday, adding they had been preparing for a \u201cpeaceful demonstration\u201d the following day.<\/p>\n

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud \u201cbears full responsibility for today\u2019s violent attack on our consultative meeting\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Somalia has fallen into yet another political crisis after Mohamud announced that his term had been extended for a year after it was due to expire on May 15.<\/p>\n

The opposition and regional leaders have rejected the move and demonstrations were due to take place on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Khaire relocated from his base in the heavily fortified green zone around the airport to his residence in the city, in order to take part in the protests.<\/p>\n

RPGs, gunshots<\/strong>
\nAn AFP news agency journalist filmed images of panicked residents in the Howl Wadaag district near his home, with loud gunshots heard in the background. Witnesses told AFP they saw armed opposition forces clashing with Somali police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooting lasted for about 15 minutes before it subsided. They even used RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], and the sound of the explosions could be heard across the surrounding neighbourhoods,\u201d said one witness, Saleban Mahad.<\/p>\n

The president has been attempting to move Somalia towards democratic elections, replacing a system based around clan elders.<\/p>\n

Mohamud argues he was given an extra year in the presidency when a new constitution was passed by parliament in March that set the framework for polls.<\/p>\n

But with the country deeply divided between rival clans, and much of it under the control of al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group, there has been little progress on organising elections beyond a few localised pockets.<\/p>\n

Opposition and regional leaders have strongly opposed Mohamud\u2019s plan, seeing it as an attempt to centralise power.<\/p>\n

Foreign powers, primarily the United States and the United Kingdom, have attempted to broker talks between the government and opposition to little avail.<\/p>\n

Reaction to attack on Khaire<\/strong>
\nEx-President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has also moved into central Mogadishu for Thursday\u2019s protest. He criticised the attack on Khaire, saying the president \u201cseeks to cause further bloodshed despite not having a legitimate official mandate \u2013 his time has expired\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis attack will not stop the demonstrations by residents of the capital who are protesting against injustice, displacement, and the abuse of government power,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n

Previous presidents have also stayed in office beyond their mandates.<\/p>\n

Former President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo stayed more than a year in office after the official end of his mandate in 2021, triggering violence and condemnation from the international community.<\/p>\n

SOURCE AL-JAZEERA<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wed 3,June 2026 {CBB} Heavy gunfire has broken out in central Mogadishu as Somalia\u2019s former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire says he has been attacked by government forces before planned protests. \u201cAn attack was launched against us by forces commanded by the president whose term has expired,\u201d Khaire said in a social media post on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11821,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11820\/revisions\/11821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiobaayiyobakool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}