Wednesday October 15, 2025
Mogadishu (HOL) — Somali Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi
has issued a strong warning to opposition politicians, saying that public
demonstrations in the capital will not be permitted.
Speaking in Mogadishu on Tuesday, Fiqi accused some opposition
figures of receiving funds to organize protests that he said threaten the
city’s security and stability. He stressed that the government would not allow
citizens to be mobilized for what he described as “political purposes.”
“These elders who are now shouting are the same ones who
were once banned from flights and attacked in hotels. When have you seen them
claiming they are going to change things?” Fiqi said. “We allow them to carry
banners on their own, but we will not allow them to take out the public.”
The defense minister went on to describe opposition
politicians as “political extremists,” claiming that President Hassan Sheikh
Mohamud had already held five meetings with them and agreed to their key
demands.
“The opposition has no real political agenda other than
mobilizing the public by paying small sums of five dollars to evict the poor
from their homes,” Fiqi alleged.
Fiqi’s remarks come after both the government and the
opposition recently agreed to postpone planned demonstrations in Mogadishu due
to heightened security concerns following a recent attack on Godka Jilacow, a
heavily guarded detention facility in the capital.
Despite the postponement, opposition leaders have vowed that
peaceful protests will still take place in Mogadishu in the coming days.