Somalia. Clashes in Baidoa between the army and fighters loyal to the former president of the state

Fighters briefly entered the town of Baidoa in Somalia on Saturday, May 30, the main city of the southwestern state. Supporters of the former president of the province Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, the armed group took part in clashes with the federal army, causing several victims, according to witnesses and security sources. “Armed elements entered the city with the aim of sowing instability and disorder”lamented the Baidoa police commander, Sadiq Dudishe, during a press conference, before assuring that the security forces had repelled the attack and that the situation had returned to calm.

The attack carried out after the elections

According to local authorities, the attack occurred as preparations were underway for the swearing-in of newly elected members of the South West State Parliament, following controversial local and regional elections in dozens of districts across the state on Sunday, May 10. Organized by the federal authorities, they were presented as the first elections by direct universal suffrage in these regions. Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen opposed a reform of the Somali Constitution, adopted at the beginning of March, which increases the duration of the presidential mandate from four to five years and establishes the election by universal suffrage of Somali deputies and senators, hitherto appointed via an indirect and clan system. The former president was ousted by the federal army in March.