Shariff: We will expel Farmajo administration from Mogadishu if they continue violating our rights

MOGADISHU—We will displace this regime from Mogadishu if they continue to violate our rights, former Somali President has said.

At a press conference in Mogadishu after visit to Beledweyne District where the forum for opposition parties delivered aid to the people affected by the floods, Sheikh Shariff said they would not allow the Federal Government to trample on their rights and further curtail their freedoms.

Shariff was reacting to an incident at Aden Adde International Airport on Sunday morning when he was allegedly prevented from flying. 

He was in the company of opposition political figures among them Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the immediate former president who left office in 2017 after he lost polls to the current president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. 

The government is yet to react to the claims of denying the opposition leaders clearance to fly to Beledweyne.

Visibly upset Shariff warned the President against the “continued disregard of the history of Mogadishu,” adding that it would not be hard to “expel his administration from the city.”

“This city was once ruled by militia groups. They were fought off and kicked out. Then came the Ethiopians and they were kicked out

“Then came Al-Shabaab and were removed. Are they (the Federal Government) stronger? I swear to Allah, if they don’t stop we will remove them,” Shariff said.

It’s not the first time the former President was prevented from flying out of the Mogadishu airport. Ahead of of the Jubbaland president’s inauguration in Kismayu last month, the airport authorities blocked Shariff from flying to the Southern city.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who served as president of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia between 2009 and 2012, accused the federal government of “focusing on fighting politicians” at the expense of fighting militant group Al-Shabaab.

He said move to block him was the tip of the iceberg.

“What happened to me yesterday is a small issue, it is something that I can forget, but I feel that something bigger is being destroyed. I see the Somali government losing its dignity and sovereignty, and to avoid that we have to unite to protect our nation,” the former president added.