How personal vendetta between two cousins is fueling Balad-Hawo tension

NAIROBI—On December 2019, elders drawn from Mareehan’s Rer Ahmed sub-clan met in Doolo town to discuss the rising tension pitting Bakaal Koke and Abdirashid Hassan alias Janaan. 

Bakaal, now the Chief Security Restoration Officer for the Gedo region, was the mayor of Doolo by then while Janaan is the powerful Jubbaland security minister.  Bakaal wanted control of the taxes paid by tens of humanitarian aid agencies in the area, while Janaan insisted that the revenue was his mandate.

However, below the surface the two cousins were jostling for the political leadership of the Rer Ahmed affairs. 

“At the height of the conflict, Bakaal suggested a compromise: he told the elders that he would share the proceeds with Janaan but the latter dismissed the idea, maintaining full control,” a source that was privy to the meeting in Doolo told Kulan Post. Upon hearing the condition, Janaan told the elders to inform Bakaal to leave the region “by nightfall.”

“While keeping in mind the Jubbaland forces supporting Janaan and the possibility of armed conflict, the elders urged Bakaal to flee from the Gedo region,” the source added. 

Bakaal Koke left for Mogadishu to meet with President Mohamed Farmajo where he was appointed the Chief Security Restoration Officer for the Gedo region. He came back alongside Osman Nuh Haji alias Moalimu on late February to drive away Jubbaland forces loyal to Janaan who weeks ealier escaped from detention in Mogadishu. 

On early March this year, the Jubbaland forces were overpowered by those from the Somali National Army under the command of Bakaal. Janaan crossed over to Kenya’s Mandera town and has since been mobilizing troops to take back Beled Hawo town from Bakaal’s grip. 

The political tension between Jubbaland leader Ahmed Madobe and President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo coupled with Somalia’s diplomatic tiff with Kenya has breathed a new lease of life into Janaan’s campaign to settle score against Bakaal.

Despite Janaan denying the mobilization of militias to take on the SNA, local reports and surveillance footages indicate movement of troops around Mandera-Bula Hawo border. 

Somalia has previously accused Kenya of hosting “the fugitive minister and his militia in Mandera.”

DIPLOMATIC RESTORATION 

Kenya and Somalia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations following talks between leaders of the two neighbouring countries in Djibouti, a Somali government official said.

Mohamed Abdirizak Mohamud, the foreign minister of Somalia, told journalists in Mogadishu that regional leaders who attended the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) summit which was held on Sunday in Djibouti pressured Somalia to de-escalate tension.

Mohamud said Somalia accepted the request by the East Africa bloc to resolve the issue through talks on the condition that an IGAD fact-finding team is formed to probe Mogadishu’s complaints.

“IGAD Heads of States put pressure on us (Somalia) to de-escalate tension and solve the problem with Kenya. Somalia accepted to restore diplomatic ties with Kenya, but put on conditions that a fact-finding committee should be assigned to investigate the situation at the border,” he told journalists in Mogadishu on Monday evening.

Both Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somalia counterpart, Mohamed Farmajo met on the sidelines of the 38th IGAD Extraordinary Summit.

Mohamud expressed confidence the dispute between the two countries will be amicably resolved to have the two countries resume diplomatic relations.

The diplomatic spat between Kenya and Somalia saw Mogadishu sever its ties with Nairobi last week over political interference.

Somalia in November expelled Kenya’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy from Nairobi, alleging violation of sovereignty and interference in the electoral process in the regional Jubbaland state.

Kenya, which has so far not commented on the latest move by Somalia, has vehemently denied the allegations, saying it respects and upholds the cardinal international principles of self-determination, sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity of all countries, and in particular those in Africa.

Somalia has also accused Kenya of arming militia operating along the two countries’ common border.