Minister Fiqi: “Dialogue or a Military Show of Force?”

Sharp remarks by Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi reflect Villa Somalia’s view on the armed travel of the leaders of Jubbaland and Puntland, accusing them of blurring the line between political dialogue and a display of military power.

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Somalia’s Minister of Defense, responding to the leaders of Jubbaland and Puntland, said they had taken a misguided step, arguing that they failed to distinguish between war and peaceful political dialogue. He stressed that troops were needed elsewhere, particularly in the Calmiskaad mountains and around the city of Kismayo, and said:

“When they travel to Addis Ababa, Nairobi, or Dubai, they go discreetly, carrying their bags, passing through immigration lines like everyone else. But when they travel to their own capital, they arm themselves as if they are heading to the final battle.

Are they coming for dialogue, for war, or for a military parade meant to send a message to others?”

He added that the security of international leaders visiting Mogadishu is guaranteed by the Federal Government of Somalia, built on mutual trust, and that Somali leaders enjoy special consideration. There is no justification, he said, for arriving with armed formations when national security forces—those constitutionally responsible for protection—are already in place.

The minister criticized what he described as an unsightly armed spectacle and the arrival of unidentified armed groups at hotels near Mogadishu’s international airport, a highly sensitive area hosting major embassies and critical facilities. Such actions, he argued, do nothing to strengthen the political standing of either Said Deni or Ahmed Madobe.

He concluded by saying that:

deploying forces to liberate the Calmiskaad mountains and secure the outskirts of Kismayo would be far more worthwhile than staging what he called a theatrical performance for the cameras.