Friday November 27, 2020
Mogadishu Mayor and Governor of Banadir, Omar Mohammed Mohamud (Omar Filish)
Mogadishu (HOL) - Mogadishu's Mayor, Omar Mohammed Mohamud (Filish), on Thursday accused a group of presidential hopefuls of planning to commit acts of violence. It warned that the politician's risk being "captured and killed" if they continue with their inflammatory rhetoric.
The mayor, who also serves as governor of Banadir, did not provide any evidence for his claim.
Filish, a former MP and powerful Mogadishu warlord in Mogadishu's Madina district quoted a verse from the Holy Quran to justify violence against the opposition figures.
"If they try to disturb the stability, Allah has ordered us how to deal with them, and this is what Allah said in Surat al Ahzab: If the hypocrites, and those with sickness in their hearts, and rumour-mongers in Medina [town] do not desist, We will certainly incite you against them, and then they will not be your neighbours there any longer," Mr Filish went on to say "they deserve to be condemned. If they were to persist, they would get themselves captured and killed relentlessly wherever they are found!"
Filish accused the opposition figures of working on behalf of foreign interests.
"Foreign governments have used the opposition, and I promise you this: we will send them back to those countries that sent them."
The comments as fourteen presidential candidates gathered in Mogadishu this past week to discuss the trajectory of the upcoming national elections. The group issued an 18 point communique where they accused Fahad Yasin, the nation's spy chief, of using the intelligence apparatus to facilitate the re-election of President Farmajo.
Filish pushed back against the calls for Fahad Yasin's resignation saying that he should not be removed from role until the end of his term.
He also accused the opposition figures of fuelling and fanning tribal flames.
"Now they are saying 'we are the Hawiye and we will take up arms'. Is that so? Isn't our Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble Hawiye?. What about me? I am the governor of this region who is tasked with protecting its citizens. Am I not Hawiye? Filish rhetorically asked the audience. "We will not allow anyone to destabilize the country and our city.”
Somalia will hold indirect elections for President in February 2021. The purposed model will see 101 delegates from various clans to elect members of the parliament next month. The 275 MPS and 54 Senators will, in turn, each cast a ballot to select the next president. President Farmajo is seeking a second term.