Somalia's demand for Kenya to arrest former South West State leader Laftagareen adds a diplomatic twist to the escalating crisis in Baidoa. [Courtesy, Meta]
Last July, the Federal Government of Somalia instigated the ouster of South West State regional president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen.
The government, through the electoral commission, called for regional assembly and presidential elections in the state as it pushed ahead with its policy on universal suffrage.
The hitherto tranquil region was thus thrust into the political limelight, pitting the Federal Government in Mogadishu and the regional state’s capital in Baidoa.
Laftagareen mobilised his military to resist the election and his eventual ouster, but he lost out and fled to Kenya as his forces were crushed by the Somali National Army. But his militia retreated on the outskirts of Baidoa and regrouped.
For a while it seemed peace and tranquillity had quietly returned to Baidoa, the regional headquarters of the South West State. The former speaker of the national parliament in Mogadishu settled down as the new regional president.
But two months down the line, Security Minister Osman Isaaq Mohamed has called on Kenya to arrest the former regional president and hand him over to Somali authorities, escalating tensions following renewed fighting in Baidoa.
Reason? The minister accused Laftagareen of instigating last week’s armed attacks and explosions in the South West State capital, saying Somali authorities want him returned to face accountability.